( it's strange, he thinks, how normal this place seems on the surface. if you don't think about it, you can pretend you're in any small town in any country, living your life out of the way of chaos of a big city.
but it's all fake. it's a dream. literally, it's a dream and stefan's not waking up. he's somewhere dreaming up this phase of his life and there's nothing he can do to stop it except...live.
he's done that for over a hundred years now so he's certain he can do it here until he figures out a way to fix this. because that's what he does, fixes things.
right now, what he does is idly walk down the aisles of a grocery store closest to the house he'd woken up in to find a few necessities (liquor, mostly) to make this dream life bearable.
he's got a bottle of something expensive in his hands when something prickles at the back of his neck and he glances over to find katherine nearby, pushing a cart.
[ … ah, fuck. she'd been hoping the next time she saw stefan, it was more on her terms (whatever those looked like here).
katherine stops pushing her cart when she spots stefan, wearing a look of annoyance. she's not quite annoyed at him—she's annoyed at the fact this hellhole doesn't have her ideal shampoo. what do they think she's going to put in her hair? some dream crap that's bound to dry it out?
pushing her cart a little closer to him, she leans her arms against the handle tube, appearing far more relaxed than she feels. she'd thought perhaps if she'd done something normal, she'd feel better—more like herself. but being here has only put her further on edge. the people who had worked in the store in her little town in pennsylvania had been helpful and conversational. the people here lacked that charm.
giving him a perky shrug, her tone follows suit, ] I make it look cute. [ and finishes it off with a smile.
[ katherine's response isn't immediate or even twenty minutes later. it takes her almost eight hours to reply back. that's what happens when you go down with the ship, survive because you're katherine pierce, and find yourself impaled by wood and pretty damn exhausted by rain.
she can avoid people, but she would only avoid caroline for an hour if she had anything to do about it. ]
Nope.
[ to the ship? to deerington? katherine doesn't need to ask her "back where?" ]
Look, I know you're pissed at me but at least tell me you're alive.
( and he waits and waits and waits for an answer. when one doesn't come for several hours, he comes to the conclusion that she's just flat out avoiding him or she's dead.
[ on 10 february, stefan will finally get a reply. ]
✓ READ
[ as much as she wants him to believe she's pissed off, allowing anyone to believe she's dead when it proves no use to her is a no-go for one katerina petrova. ]
[ on 12 february, stefan will get another reply. she's bored, recovering, and did we mention bored out of her mind? being stuck in a weird, batshit underwater city with only damon for company can drive even the most sane mad. not that damon's driving her insane with his asinine behaviour. it's his kindness that's doing her head in. ]
( This isn't a message she cares to send. For all she'd care, Katherine and her could stay off one another's radar. But, Stefan made a good point, as much as it pains her to admit. With Elena's impulsive decisions always comes fallout. While Stefan understands the ten reasons why she'd never tip Katherine off, Elena keeps timelines into perspective. Elena wouldn't be Elena if she couldn't have the capacity to forgive anyone, or to understand where they were coming from. At one time, she and Katherine could've been real allies. And they were, on and off, against Klaus. Jeremy and -- everything during freshman year of college poisoned her view of Katherine. But, Katherine was still a vampire who could love Elijah - and Klaus if she had been telling the truth about that. She ran for over 500 years. Even what she did was about survival. And she had a daughter.
Elena keeps this all in mind as she keeps things succinct. )
Not that someone has mistaken us, but I should let you know I was honest with the network about what I am.
( he hates this part. this reaching out and trying to find the words that will make everything better when he knows he's not owed that. she owes him nothing. )
I just wanted to say thank you. For what you did. You didn't have to and I know it couldn't have been easy. I'm not expecting anything from this. I just wanted to say it to you.
( and while he says he's not expecting it, maybe he's hoping for some sort of answer. )
[ katherine's first instinct is to do as she did in rapture and ignore him. she'd made that decision partly out of pain and not quite knowing what to say to him. this time round is absolutely no different… except for the fact she knows she won't reply to him days later. she wants to sweep a lot of this under the rug and move on, even though it and the two of them won't heed that one rule.
she replies to him twenty minutes later, feeling overly refreshed and weirdly raw from the stupid rain. ]
It's okay, Stefan.
Let's just move on.
[ it's just seven words, yet it feels very difficult to type out. ]
I understand a bit more about human politics and why you as the Prime Minister had to make the decision on calling on Torchwood. However - I still can't fully be alright with your choice either.
( stefan doesn't really remember how katherine ends up in his bed tonight but she's there, on her side. he's tucked up against her back, nose pressed against her shoulder. she's wearing one of his shirts, blue if he remembers, but whereas that would be enough to keep him asleep, something tugs at him.
he tries to resist, comfortable and lazy, but the tugging grows more insistent. then, the sound comes, a low buzz that he can't put out of his mind. he stirs, carefully extricating himself from behind katherine to roll out of bed.
he'd thought he'd been having a dream but no, this is something else. he moves, rubbing his eyes and getting off the bed slowly. it takes him a few seconds to grab his discarded shirt from the ground but once he does, he's already out the door and heading...downstairs.
that's where the sound's coming from. he's still rubbing sleep out of his eyes as he descends down. now, he sees the distinct red glow of...fireflies. he stops cold, suddenly remember that this is what had happened when he'd seen lexi. had she come back?
something sticks in his throat, a low swirl of anxiety in his belly as he moves slowly closer to the kitchen. he doesn't hear his friend's voice but there's definitely someone in there.
bare foot and barely awake, he steps into the doorway of his kitchen and — )
No.
( the word is barely a whisper because standing in his kitchen like she's been there for years is his mother. the fireflies coalesce around her and then all that's left is the red glow and the woman herself. )
Mother.
( he's half tempted to turn around and go back to sleep but he doesn't. he can't. )
[ she knows the instant when he moves up and out of the bed. katherine doesn't roll over to ask him where he's going or watch him leave, suspecting that maybe he's going to go for a quick walk around his house to tire himself out or get a glass of water or do whatever it is stefan does when he may be restless at night. nothing appears out of the ordinary, even though this whole arrangement is nothing but ordinary. she can't sleep by herself, but she can when she's with stefan. two plus two.
stretching her legs out across the bed onto "his" side, she listens for him so she knows when he comes back. she can hear him somewhere in the house, padding around, being all stefan-like in his footsteps... and then she hears him talk. for a brief moment, she thinks he's speaking aloud to a thought he's had, but then he says something else.
she's up and out of bed, still groggy as she tries to sense where he is and walk as quickly as she can to find him. the kitchen's brightly lit with that familiar shade of red again; katherine knows it's not for her. there's two heartbeats in there, an unfamiliar scent, and when she steps in and sees stefan's back, he's holding himself entirely different to what she's used to.
lily salvatore is very beautiful, and not at all how she had pictured her at all. only for a moment does she question if she's her.
she closes the distance between herself and stefan, coming up behind him. she gently rests her hand on the small of his back, hoping not to spook him. with a glance to the woman glowing red, she peers up at him and quietly says, ] Stefan?
( it's early evening when stefan notices the red glow coming from outside his bedroom door. he's been waiting for katherine to show up so they could eat and...do whatever else they wanted to do but that red glow wasn't her.
that was someone else. the first time this happened, lexi had appeared. the second time, his mother. he doesn't even know who could and would show up for him now. but he knows it's for him because he can feel a pull in his gut, a need to step closer and open that door and see who it is.
maybe it's his brother. maybe it's caroline or bonnie or his uncle zach. but, as soon as stefan starts to approach that door, he knows it's none of those people. it's someone else.
he reaches for the door and opens it quickly, eyes widening and feet taking several steps back when he gets a glimpse of the other person outside the door.
he opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out. his father doesn't seem to mind. he takes a calm step inside, shuts the door and locks it. he can't know that anyone's on their way over so stefan thinks this is just what he wants to do. he wants privacy.
straightening, he looks his father in the eye as the other man steps closer. )
Father.
( giuseppe doesn't know smile but he does reach out to put a heavy, firm hand on stefan's shoulder, giving it a squeeze as he moves closer to him. )
[ katherine's later than she'd like turning up to stefan's house. after deciding to splurge and get them some pizza from the pizzeria, she'd ended up distracted. she's not exactly a pizza eater, and trying to determine if stefan was a pineapple or no pineapple guy took some time. she doesn't want to fuck something as simple as picking the pizza topping.
she welcomes herself into his house through the front door and carries the pizza boxes to his kitchen. she kind of expected him to be waiting away in his kitchen, but maybe she took so long he decided to read a book. depositing them on his metal table, she removes her jacket and toes off her heels. ] St—
[ why can she hear two heartbeats? she knows the second one isn't hers.
maybe stefan's fine, but… the beating of one heart seems to be quicker than the other.
following the beating cautiously, katherine comes to stand outside of stefan's bedroom with the door uncharacteristically closed. is he planning an impromptu surprise for her? she can't hear or smell anything on the other side of the door that would implicate he's trying to seduce her with rose petals or chocolate or something far more ridiculous than that. it seems… quiet on the other side. maybe tense?
she's applying emotion to a freaking closed door.
reaching for the doorknob, she frowns when she can't push the door open. rattling it again, she does her best not to use her full strength—breaking the doorknob doesn't mean she's kicked that lock back. ]
Stef? [ she twists it again and then lets it go. ] Why's your door locked?
( the night prior hadn't been marked by anything special. they'd eaten and watched television and then they'd gone to bed together as they typically did.
he'd curled himself up against katherine's back, curling a hand around her waist and holding her against him. he doesn't know when the nightmares start but they're mild at first. dreams of water lapping against his feet, dreams of water getting into his mouth.
but they get worse and worse. he remembers the safe and the water, he dreams about elena and damon laughing at him as he drowns over and over. he dreams about his lungs burning and aching, about vomiting water and drowning in that. he dreams of silas above him, holding his head underneath the surface and struggling to move, to breathe.
when silas let's him up, he pulls his hands away and looks at stefan, a smirk on his face. that's enough to have stefan reaching up to him, covered in water and sick and grabbing for his throat. he digs his fingers into his neck hard enough to leave marks, to rip at skin and he doesn't stop, squeezing and squeezing without mercy. )
[ perhaps she should've pushed him to talk about it.
talking about what that golden room exposed to either of them is a lot more difficult than it really should be. katherine has always kept his experience with the safe at the back of her mind since he told her the role she played in that, but since experiencing it, she doesn't like shutting her eyes and wondering if stefan sometimes sees the dark roof of that box in his mind.
she's spent the last few days wondering what could possibly make him feel like he's back in there and not do it. she doesn't take him to the lake to dunk him again and she certainly doesn't seek out a box that's as long and wide as him to drop him into it. she simply waits for the right time and hopes she'll have the right words.
turns out, maybe tonight's that time.
katherine's already awake and turned to face him when his hands search for her neck. at first, she thinks it's him reaching for someone warm and solid in the midst of a nightmare, but then his fingers lock into place and dig into the skin of her throat like he's trying to snap it in half.
she knows she can throw him off. she's stronger and her survival instincts have her wanting to toss him off of her, but she doesn't want to wake him abruptly. even while his weight bears down and constricts her throat, she knows throwing him off of her is going to do far more damage to him than she wants.
wrapping her fingers tightly around his wrists, she digs her nails into the fleshy parts near his pulse. ] Stef— [ she chokes it out and kicks the sheets. ] Stefan. Wake up.
[ Inside Katherine's mailbox, there is a nondescript white envelope with her name on it. Inside, there is a colorful pog, with a message written on the back in silver fine-tipped sharpie. There's no stamp on the envelope, implying that it was hand delivered rather than mailed. ]
it's been real. it's been weird. it's been real weird.
see you on the flip side! – GP
[ The pog is enchanted with dream magic, so that it can be given as a gift, but cannot be lost, stolen, or destroyed. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
manipulative) wrote2019-12-08 11:16 am
action ➔ gone shoppin'
but it's all fake. it's a dream. literally, it's a dream and stefan's not waking up. he's somewhere dreaming up this phase of his life and there's nothing he can do to stop it except...live.
he's done that for over a hundred years now so he's certain he can do it here until he figures out a way to fix this. because that's what he does, fixes things.
right now, what he does is idly walk down the aisles of a grocery store closest to the house he'd woken up in to find a few necessities (liquor, mostly) to make this dream life bearable.
he's got a bottle of something expensive in his hands when something prickles at the back of his neck and he glances over to find katherine nearby, pushing a cart.
pushing an actual cart of groceries. )
Have you gone domestic already?
( how cute. )
no subject
katherine stops pushing her cart when she spots stefan, wearing a look of annoyance. she's not quite annoyed at him—she's annoyed at the fact this hellhole doesn't have her ideal shampoo. what do they think she's going to put in her hair? some dream crap that's bound to dry it out?
pushing her cart a little closer to him, she leans her arms against the handle tube, appearing far more relaxed than she feels. she'd thought perhaps if she'd done something normal, she'd feel better—more like herself. but being here has only put her further on edge. the people who had worked in the store in her little town in pennsylvania had been helpful and conversational. the people here lacked that charm.
giving him a perky shrug, her tone follows suit, ] I make it look cute. [ and finishes it off with a smile.
she eyes his groceries judgementally. ] Really?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
text | un: missmystic | february 1st
did you make it back?
[ she needs to know. for reasons. ]
text
she can avoid people, but she would only avoid caroline for an hour if she had anything to do about it. ]
Nope.
[ to the ship? to deerington? katherine doesn't need to ask her "back where?" ]
I guess I missed that lifeboat.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
( text | un: ssalvatore )
( and he waits and waits and waits for an answer. when one doesn't come for several hours, he comes to the conclusion that she's just flat out avoiding him or she's dead.
he really hopes she's just avoiding him. )
( text | 1/2 )
✓ READ
[ as much as she wants him to believe she's pissed off, allowing anyone to believe she's dead when it proves no use to her is a no-go for one katerina petrova. ]
( text )
Nope.
[ #eloquence ]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
text l un: buffy
Elena keeps this all in mind as she keeps things succinct. )
Not that someone has mistaken us, but I should let you know I was honest with the network about what I am.
no subject
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
text — un: hale
no subject
[ she's far too impatient for anything like that. ]
Why? You want a lesson?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
...
...
...
...
...
...
( text: un: ssalvatore )
I just wanted to say thank you. For what you did. You didn't have to and I know it couldn't have been easy. I'm not expecting anything from this. I just wanted to say it to you.
( and while he says he's not expecting it, maybe he's hoping for some sort of answer. )
no subject
she replies to him twenty minutes later, feeling overly refreshed and weirdly raw from the stupid rain. ]
It's okay, Stefan.
Let's just move on.
[ it's just seven words, yet it feels very difficult to type out. ]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
1/2
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
un: mercy; a misfire
or you could carry a knife
no subject
Hit them with what? My hands?
And how big is this knife? Butter knife? Butcher's knife? Crocodile Dundee knife?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
misfire text — un: premed
no subject
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
( text | un: gobig | misfire )
no subject
That depends. Are they yours?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
text untheDoctor; misfire
( action » family matters )
he tries to resist, comfortable and lazy, but the tugging grows more insistent. then, the sound comes, a low buzz that he can't put out of his mind. he stirs, carefully extricating himself from behind katherine to roll out of bed.
he'd thought he'd been having a dream but no, this is something else. he moves, rubbing his eyes and getting off the bed slowly. it takes him a few seconds to grab his discarded shirt from the ground but once he does, he's already out the door and heading...downstairs.
that's where the sound's coming from. he's still rubbing sleep out of his eyes as he descends down. now, he sees the distinct red glow of...fireflies. he stops cold, suddenly remember that this is what had happened when he'd seen lexi. had she come back?
something sticks in his throat, a low swirl of anxiety in his belly as he moves slowly closer to the kitchen. he doesn't hear his friend's voice but there's definitely someone in there.
bare foot and barely awake, he steps into the doorway of his kitchen and — )
No.
( the word is barely a whisper because standing in his kitchen like she's been there for years is his mother. the fireflies coalesce around her and then all that's left is the red glow and the woman herself. )
Mother.
( he's half tempted to turn around and go back to sleep but he doesn't. he can't. )
no subject
stretching her legs out across the bed onto "his" side, she listens for him so she knows when he comes back. she can hear him somewhere in the house, padding around, being all stefan-like in his footsteps... and then she hears him talk. for a brief moment, she thinks he's speaking aloud to a thought he's had, but then he says something else.
she's up and out of bed, still groggy as she tries to sense where he is and walk as quickly as she can to find him. the kitchen's brightly lit with that familiar shade of red again; katherine knows it's not for her. there's two heartbeats in there, an unfamiliar scent, and when she steps in and sees stefan's back, he's holding himself entirely different to what she's used to.
lily salvatore is very beautiful, and not at all how she had pictured her at all. only for a moment does she question if she's her.
she closes the distance between herself and stefan, coming up behind him. she gently rests her hand on the small of his back, hoping not to spook him. with a glance to the woman glowing red, she peers up at him and quietly says, ] Stefan?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
( action » ghost dad )
that was someone else. the first time this happened, lexi had appeared. the second time, his mother. he doesn't even know who could and would show up for him now. but he knows it's for him because he can feel a pull in his gut, a need to step closer and open that door and see who it is.
maybe it's his brother. maybe it's caroline or bonnie or his uncle zach. but, as soon as stefan starts to approach that door, he knows it's none of those people. it's someone else.
he reaches for the door and opens it quickly, eyes widening and feet taking several steps back when he gets a glimpse of the other person outside the door.
he opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out. his father doesn't seem to mind. he takes a calm step inside, shuts the door and locks it. he can't know that anyone's on their way over so stefan thinks this is just what he wants to do. he wants privacy.
straightening, he looks his father in the eye as the other man steps closer. )
Father.
( giuseppe doesn't know smile but he does reach out to put a heavy, firm hand on stefan's shoulder, giving it a squeeze as he moves closer to him. )
no subject
she welcomes herself into his house through the front door and carries the pizza boxes to his kitchen. she kind of expected him to be waiting away in his kitchen, but maybe she took so long he decided to read a book. depositing them on his metal table, she removes her jacket and toes off her heels. ] St—
[ why can she hear two heartbeats? she knows the second one isn't hers.
maybe stefan's fine, but… the beating of one heart seems to be quicker than the other.
following the beating cautiously, katherine comes to stand outside of stefan's bedroom with the door uncharacteristically closed. is he planning an impromptu surprise for her? she can't hear or smell anything on the other side of the door that would implicate he's trying to seduce her with rose petals or chocolate or something far more ridiculous than that. it seems… quiet on the other side. maybe tense?
she's applying emotion to a freaking closed door.
reaching for the doorknob, she frowns when she can't push the door open. rattling it again, she does her best not to use her full strength—breaking the doorknob doesn't mean she's kicked that lock back. ]
Stef? [ she twists it again and then lets it go. ] Why's your door locked?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
( a little ptsd for this fine day )
he'd curled himself up against katherine's back, curling a hand around her waist and holding her against him. he doesn't know when the nightmares start but they're mild at first. dreams of water lapping against his feet, dreams of water getting into his mouth.
but they get worse and worse. he remembers the safe and the water, he dreams about elena and damon laughing at him as he drowns over and over. he dreams about his lungs burning and aching, about vomiting water and drowning in that. he dreams
of silas above him, holding his head underneath the surface and struggling to move, to breathe.
when silas let's him up, he pulls his hands away and looks at stefan, a smirk on his face. that's enough to have stefan reaching up to him, covered in water and sick and grabbing for his throat. he digs his fingers into his neck hard enough to leave marks, to rip at skin and he doesn't stop, squeezing and squeezing without mercy. )
cw: choking
talking about what that golden room exposed to either of them is a lot more difficult than it really should be. katherine has always kept his experience with the safe at the back of her mind since he told her the role she played in that, but since experiencing it, she doesn't like shutting her eyes and wondering if stefan sometimes sees the dark roof of that box in his mind.
she's spent the last few days wondering what could possibly make him feel like he's back in there and not do it. she doesn't take him to the lake to dunk him again and she certainly doesn't seek out a box that's as long and wide as him to drop him into it. she simply waits for the right time and hopes she'll have the right words.
turns out, maybe tonight's that time.
katherine's already awake and turned to face him when his hands search for her neck. at first, she thinks it's him reaching for someone warm and solid in the midst of a nightmare, but then his fingers lock into place and dig into the skin of her throat like he's trying to snap it in half.
she knows she can throw him off. she's stronger and her survival instincts have her wanting to toss him off of her, but she doesn't want to wake him abruptly. even while his weight bears down and constricts her throat, she knows throwing him off of her is going to do far more damage to him than she wants.
wrapping her fingers tightly around his wrists, she digs her nails into the fleshy parts near his pulse. ] Stef— [ she chokes it out and kicks the sheets. ] Stefan. Wake up.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
un asmodeus.
Special occasion.
no subject
Of course.
For the price of details. Who's the lucky man/woman? Do you need shoes?
[ she's got a whole room filled with shoes, no joke. ]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
a delivery
it's been real.
it's been weird.
it's been real weird.
see you on the flip side!
– GP
[ The pog is enchanted with dream magic, so that it can be given as a gift, but cannot be lost, stolen, or destroyed. ]
[Delivery]
It's a box of chocolates! And it comes with a handwritten note:]
Hey,
I just learned about this rad human holiday where you give people stuff if they're important to you, so I hope you like chocolate!
And if this isn't how the holiday works, sorry. I'm trying my best here.
-Fern
( text | un: burton )
no subject
[ look, she's allowed to be a shit. ]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
...