( CLOSED | FEBRUARY CATCH-ALL ) I GOT FIRE IN MY SOUL.

[manipulative]

Who: Stefan + Katherine | Amos + Wanda.
What: February things.
When: The month of love.
Where: Around.

Content warnings: Violence.

Comments

( JEALOUSY, JEALOUSY. )

[manipulative]

[ katherine ignores the wind blowing loudly in her ears as she watches stefan from the front porch walk along the sidewalk. she crosses her arms against her chest as she narrows her eyes and watches him as he makes his way home.

since returning from the woods, katherine's been noticing a few things about stefan. she knows he's attractive—anyone with eyes can see—but she'd forgotten in her tunnel vision how others looked at him.

and she doesn't like that. hasn't since the start of the month.

he'd gone for a walk with aleksander, as he sometimes does, and while she's been more than content to stay at home and watch her own television shows and read her own books, something has been niggling in the back of her mind. ]

Welcome home.

[ it's a good thing she doesn't have to shout given his very sensitive hearing. god forbid the neighbours know he's returned home. ]

Re: ( JEALOUSY, JEALOUSY. )

[prescind]

...thanks?

( not that stefan minds when katherine waits for him like this but it's kind of unusual. she typically stays inside and does her own thing and then aleksander finds his way to her, shaking and cuddling with her.

once they're close enough, he let's aleksander off the leash and the dog goes bounding up towards katherine. )

Everything okay?

[manipulative]

Mhm.

[ she drops down to give aleksander his usual rough pat. he's such a soft dog who's always so happy. that must be why everyone in the neighbourhood eyes him.

she keeps her voice purposefully light. ] Did you see your friend again?

[prescind]

My...friend?

( he looks at her and then shakes his head because he has no idea what she means. )

What are you talking about?

[manipulative]

Your friend.

[ she waves her hand dismissively so that it appears that she doesn't care. she does. of course, katherine wants stefan to have friends. it's healthy for him to have a little collection of people who aren't her, just as it's healthy for her to have her own group of people to fall back to.

but that doesn't mean she likes all of them. ]

The one with the rose bush. You're always awfully friendly with her.

[prescind]

You mean the neighbor? That I Say hello to every so often?

( is that considered awfully friendly now? he makes a face and shakes his head. )

I'm just being nice, that's all. I say hello and she says hello and that's it.

[manipulative]

[ katherine smiles close-lipped and shakes her head as she peers up at stefan. ]

You know she's saying a lot more than that.

[ honestly, the fact that stefan can look at that face in the mirror and not see it for what it is is honestly one of the true tragedies of immortality. ]

Which is fine. [ she goes back to patting aleksander and smiles. ] I've dealt with it.

[prescind]

You've — wait, what?

( stefan makes a face at her and then laughs because surely, she's joking. she doesn't mean that how it sounds. )

You've taken care of it how?

[manipulative]

[ katherine continues to look down at aleks as she scratches beneath his chin. ]

I've just gotten rid of the problem.

[ she shrugs nonchalantly. ]

Or, well... the problem will get rid of herself.

[ while katherine very much appreciates original things, sometimes she likes to reuse successful methods. one of those successful methods had been compelling jenna sommers to stab herself... and she thinks it's only fair stefan's admirer follow suit. ]

( ROSES ARE RED, JEALOUSY IS BLUE )

[explosion]

[ the last place wanda ever expected to see amos was at the park.

it isn't like he's not allowed to be at the park near the flowerbed. he's allowed to be anywhere he likes! but wanda's passed this garden as part of her morning route and has never seen him here at this time of day.

that's why she's taken a detour to stand beside him with her arms crossed against her chest and smiles at him. she's wearing leggings—it's clear she had intended to simply walk and not elicit any chaos anywhere. ]

I never would've guessed you liked parks. They're not very surly.

[rocinantes]

I'm not always surly.

( he looks up at her approach, making a face and then looking back at the flowers. he can't identify them besides what they look like nad how they smell but — he thinks that's enough.

and it's nice to see her even if he won't admit that out loud. )

[explosion]

[ wanda smiles, making an amused noise low in her throat. he's right; he's not always surly. she should know better than that by now. ]

Do you like them? [ she nods towards the flowers. ] The flowers. Or are you suspicious of them?

[ while it may seem like she's teasing him, it's a genuine question considering it's trench. ]

[rocinantes]

No, I like them.

( he stands up and faces her, eyes flicking over her shoulder towards some other people nearby before they go back to her. )

I had a friend who liked plants and he kind of passed that one to me.

[explosion]

[ she tilts her head to the side with interest. it's not every day that amos opens up, and when he does, wanda often finds he reveals little tidbits that are mundane about himself. to someone else, it might be a little underwhelming given who he is and where he's come from, but she likes it. ]

Did he teach you how to grow them?

[rocinantes]

Nah. He was growing them on the ship we were on, the Roci.

( and amos had just been hanging around him, listening and being close to someone. )

I kind of picked up stuff by listening to him.

[explosion]

Maybe you missed your calling. You should've been a botanist instead of a mechanic.

[ wanda smiles. if he had been interested enough to listen and learn and put all of that into practice and maintain it even now, perhaps amos burton should've gone into a prettier line of work.

then again, she's sure the roci would be dead in space without him. holden had a nice ass, but he seemed a bit useless. ]

[rocinantes]

I don't think so. I wouldn't have even cared about plants if it wasn't for him.

( he shrugs a shoulder. )

He's the reason I like them.

( HAPPY BIRTHDAY WANDA )

[explosion]

[ if she could figure out how to erase birthdays from existence, wanda would happily ensure that this one no longer found itself on the universe's permanent calendar.

her birthday doesn't feel the same without pietro. it's lopsided. she already walks around as though she has lost half of herself, but to have this day come around when she's a year older is hard. she's still twelve minutes younger, but she's ten years older than her brother ever will be. wanda's never meant to be the one who moves faster than pietro.

even though she wishes to go about her day as though it was any other day, she doesn't. she doesn't call anyone, doesn't text anyone back, and doesn't plan to go on her walk through the town to ensure that it still feels right. all she intends to do is stay at home in her plaid shorts and sulk.

but her house does change a little. the outside streaks with red as the flowers change from their range of brilliant colours to silver and blue. if pietro can't be here with her, she'll ensure he's still felt in the trench. ]

[rocinantes]

( amos is not a sympathetic sort. he doesn't really keep track of birthday and anniversaries because he tends to not give a damn about people.

but — he finds out about wanda's birthday and he decides to do something for her. he doesn't want to shop because he's a terrible shopper so instead he grabs one of his singing plants and teaches it to sing happy birthday.

it's not all that hard. the only embarrassing part is that he had to sing before the plant could learn. it doesn't take too long to learn though before it's got it down pat and amos is bringing it over to wanda's house.

he puts it down in front of the door, knocks and then moves away so he can watch how wanda reacts to a plant singing happy birthday to her when it opens the door. )

[explosion]

[ at the knock, wanda's quick to come to her front door. when she opens it, she looks around with a furrowed brow, expecting to see someone standing there. was she hearing things? did she want to hear something, so she manifested a knock at the door?

when she's about to close it, she hears a noise. glancing around without turning her head, she deduces the sound is coming from below…

and a plant.

the sound is coming from a plant. and it's not just any sound. it's a song.

she deepens her frown as she peers down at it and stares at it incredulously. lowering into a squat, her incredulous frown breaks into an incredulous smile and laugh.

the plant is singing happy birthday. this is the strangest thing to ever happen to her—and she likes it very, very much. ]

[rocinantes]

( it's definitely singing it's heart out. amos has to give it credit for going all out and making this quite the show.

it sings and then it goes into the song one more time, singing happy birthday to her once more just to make sure that she knows that he's wishing her a happy birthday.

amos doesn't reveal himself, still hiding and watching and enjoying that she's getting a kick out of it. )

[explosion]

[ wanda scrunches up her nose as she laughs wetly, taken aback by this plant singing her happy birthday. she's had people and she's had silence wish send her birthday wishes. this is special.

she smiles even after the singing has stopped. with her hands between her knees, she doesn't look around to find who must have delivered the plant. she doesn't need to. ]

I know that you're out there.

[rocinantes]

But you didn't know at first.

( and finally, he does reveal himself to her, standing up and stepping out, coming over to her. )

Heard it's your birthday.

[explosion]

[ she wipes at her eyes as she remains squatted in front of the plant. she watches amos appear, unsurprised that it's him. even though he can be very surly and oftentimes unemotional, he has a big heart that he likes to keep tucked away. ]

Did the plant tell you?

[ she clucks her tongue and shakes her head as she peers down at the plant. ]

I told you that was a secret.

[rocinantes]

Oops.

( amos shrugs because oh well, now the plant also knows the birthday and will always know the birthday. )

Guess you have to live with it now. The plant wants you to know that they wanted to celebrate your birthday.