out of the fire, into the frying pan

[prescind]

Who: stefan salvatore (prescind) + katherine pierce (manipulative)
What: wtfing at their surroundings, exploring, figuring stuff out
When: early september
Where: cellar door, cassandra, all around

Content Warnings: probably some language to start.

Comments

( what the hell just happened? )

[prescind]

( the very first thing he thinks about this place is blood. it's not strong and he can resist it but he knows it there, all around them in a way that it wasn't in deerington.

when he looks around, finally realizing that they're not in bulgaria or mystic falls or even on that ship, he panics for a split second. he doesn't know where they are or what this place is.

all he can smell is blood. and then he realizes that katherine's not nearby. the last thing he remembers, she'd been right with him on that ship and now he can't see her, can't hear her, can't smell her past the blood. )

Katherine!

( she has to be here. whatever happened, they'd made sure they stayed close to each other, that they wouldn't leave the other. he doesn't want to break his promise. )

[manipulative]

[ after he calls out her name a few more times, she appears with a scarf wrapped around her neck, an expensive sleek looking coat brushing against her shoulders, and a tie wrapped around her wrists she keeps winding round and round. katherine looks like katherine—nothing worse for wear and not a hair out of place. in fact, she appears like she's gone shopping.

and maybe she has.

although katherine experienced the very same uncertainty and fright as stefan when she realised he wasn't right behind her, in her search for him, she'd used her wiles and intelligence to gain some information… and some new clothes. ]

Stefan!

[ her yell doesn't sound as frightened. he's here; she knows he's here—katherine had pushed down her fear in order to try and find if anyone had seen a tall, dark and handsome man who was very clearly hers nearby. she knew he'd never leave her. stefan did value his life and balls, after all. ]

What do you think? Is the scarf too much?

[prescind]

( stefan let's out a breath, relief prevalent in the sound before he starts towards her. as soon as he gets close enough, he stops and looks her up and down. )

Did you go shopping?

( how in the hell had she found time to go shopping during all this? how had she been able to focus? )

[manipulative]

[ katherine only smiles, twirling on the spot to show off her goods. ]

Do you like it?

[ she peers down at her leg, pivoting her foot back and forth on the toe. she wears the shoes she had been wearing on the ship—dark brown high boots that look a little stained from the ocean with a heel that's sharp enough to be used as a knife. ]

I couldn't find the right shoes.

[prescind]

Yeah, it's fine but...Katherine.

( does she not realize what's happening, where they are? )

I've been worrying about where you were and you were shopping?

( he doesn't know how she could be so...not worried. )

[manipulative]

I was looking for you.

[ she drops her hands away from her scarf and places her foot back on the ground. unwrapping that tie from around her wrist, she steps towards him so she can open it up and wrap it around his neck. ]

No one was going to tell me if they'd seen a handsome man without me buying something.

[prescind]

You were looking for me in a clothing shop?

( at least this distracts him from the blood and the fact that they're in some new fucked up world. he sighs and rubs a hand over his face. )

Are you okay?

( everybody was bloodsport fighting )

[manipulative]

Katherine wipes the back of her bloodied hand against her lips, smearing blood across her chin and cheeks. Despite looking like a mess with her hair knotted with drying blood, she still looks as composed and put together as ever. Her sharp heels haven't broken—the right's bloodied after having stabbed a thin Slenderman-like monster right through the neck—and her black pants aren't torn. Bloodied and sweaty, Katherine still looks the picture of perfection.

The blood on her face belongs to the dead monster. Thick bodied and dark-haired, the monster's silent as it lies boneless and lifeless on the ground feet behind her with its heart thrown several arm lengths away from it. Her right hand's coated in deep red with flecks of black throughout it.

When she sees who they've thrown in next, her black eyes and veins disappear immediately. She no longer looks like the victorious monster who's tapped into her physical strength and the strange way she can now tug on more than just someone's mind.

She shakes her head. "I'm not fighting you."

Even though she says it, she wants to. There's an indecipherable urge to do so. Katherine wants it gone. Stefan's not a monster. She's killed enough and been one long enough to know a monster when she sees one.

[prescind]

"You think I want to fight you?"

But, he's been shoved into the ring and while he says he doesn't want to fight her, he can feel the urge running through his veins. He doesn't want to fight, he just doesn't want to fight her.

He swallows, hands curling into tight fists. He's not as bloodied as she is but he's clearly been through a fight or two, blood smeared on his lips to show how he's taken care of them. He'll have to deal with that later.

"Walk away."

[manipulative]

Her brows furrow. "You walk away."

It's a small part of Katherine's fight or flight trigger that has her say it, but it's mostly the uncorked desire to fight. Ignoring the impulsive need to do something, she stands as still as she can and tries to relax the tight set of her jaw. Stefan needs to walk away. If she walks away, she's going to walk towards him and—

She doesn't let herself think on it. Katherine's imagined fighting Stefan before in an effort to outplay every single one of his moves. She has no desire to fight him… even though she really, really wants to.

[prescind]

"No."

He doesn't know why he doesn't walk away. He should. If he removes himself from the situation then neither of them has to fight the other. But there's something that's pressing him to stay right where he is. He's not going to let her drive him away.

He doesn't move forward but he doesn't move away either. He stays where he is, refusing to let her make him leave. She might be older, stronger, but he's not a coward and he's not going to let her kowtow him.

"I'm not leaving."

[manipulative]

"If you don't leave, you know what has to happen next."

Every single fight she's had with one of the Trench's hideous, burly, and overly strong monsters has led to its death. Katherine's well-aware that not every fight needs to end with someone ending up six feet in the ground. Gladiators might have fought until they were dead, but she knows that the Trench is different. It has to be.

She cocks her brow. "You kill me and I will haunt you for the rest of eternity."

[prescind]

He doesn't really know how it ends if they don't kill each other but that's the last thing he wants to do. He blows out a breath and shakes his head before taking a few steps closer to her.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. A few years ago and I think you would have said I couldn't kill you."

She probably still thinks that and is just being nice. Or maybe she does think he has some ways of getting at her that others can't. Only one way to find out.

( and you get a body and you get a body! )

[prescind]

( at first, he doesn't think anything of the raven feathers. there's a lot more to focus on in this town than a few feathers at his feet. but, when one catches on his boot, something stops him and he leans down to pick it up, stare at it for a second.

that's how it happens, that's all it takes. one minute, his feet are on solid ground, a feather in his hand and the next, he's in a canoe and there's a stench of rot and death in the air.

blinking, stefan focuses and finds himself staring into the eyes of his brother. he visibly flinches, almost toppling out of the boat before he rights himself. his brother's body doesn't move, tied to a tree and much more pale than he usually is. he's so caught up in that that he doesn't realize who else is in the boat with him. )

[manipulative]

[ this isn't katherine's first canoe ride.

keeping her gaze straight ahead, she knows immediately when it's stefan sitting beside her in the canoe. at least he's not a stranger. being beside strangers as they see people and things that meant so much to them rip a guttural sound from their throats had been extremely uncomfortable. seeing pearl had been enough of a lesson, even though she kept picking up raven feathers.

katherine turns her head and sees the body of damon salvatore discoloured and limp, lacking all the arrogance and annoying charisma that makes damon damon. it's disconcerting; her heart hammers away, but katherine has five hundred years of brushing things off and telling herself it doesn't matter.

she's quick to slowly slide her arm around stefan's middle.

gently, ] Look at me.

[prescind]

( he doesn't hear her at first. all he can hear is loud roar in his head and it completely blots out everything else. he swallows a few times, feeling an arm around him but trying to move towards the front of the canoe anyway so he can get closer to his brother.

logically, he knows that damon's dead but if he can just get closer and maybe get him down, he can give him blood and make things better.

he's not thinking clearly and he knows it but he has to do something. )

[manipulative]

[ katherine grips him tighter, holding him in a very tight lock. damon is dead and tied to a post, but katherine knows that he's not dead at all. if he was dead, the world would be a little less colourful.

they might be out of deerington, but the trench is just the same in its machinations. ]

Stefan.

[ she says it a little firmly this time. resting her chin on his shoulder, she tries to crowd him so that he struggles to know what's real and what isn't. ]

That's not him.

[prescind]

I need —

( he wants to take him down from the post so badly. even if he can't bring him back, he wants to get him down from there because it's just so...disgusting and overt and he hates it. )

He doesn't deserve to be up there.

( he's done a lot of terrible things, his brother, but no one deserves this. )

[manipulative]

I know.

[ she doesn't let go of him. katherine suspects that the canoe ride is meant to be torturous. if it was so easy as to swim out and retrieve what has been tied so callously to a post, she would've done it with pearl.

but her gut instinct is to remain in the canoe. ]

But you can't. You do that, and something bad's going to happen to you. Do you really think Damon would want that?

[ damon's been a selfish asshole through and through for a century and a half, but she knows that damon would never want stefan to be in true pain. an eternity of misery was meant to be done by damon's hand, not because of damon's death. ]

( pirate captain katherine )

[manipulative]

( from here )

"Kind of."

[ contrary to popular belief, that doesn't upset katherine. vain as she may be, she knows what stefan's truly saying: she's irresistible, he can't deny himself her presence, and she is a total babe.

she knows.

she smiles, shaking her head. ]

The compliment every girl is dying to hear, Stef. Anyone ever tell you that you have a way with words?

[prescind]

No.

( no one's told him that because he doesn't have a way with words. his brother was better with that sort of thing even if damon's words tended to be hollow. )

If you're expecting poetry from me, you're going to be waiting a long time. I love you. Isn't that a good compliment?

[manipulative]

[ katherine smiles and pats him on the forearm. that's a very nice poem... one she hopes he doesn't repeat over and over, though! it still embarrasses her greatly to hear those three words she'd once romanticised when she had been young and naive. ]

It's an all right compliment.

[ the way she doesn't look up at him should tell him what he needs to know: it's a good one. ]

Do you love me even in a pirate hat?

[prescind]

Yes.

( of course he does. he loves her in an anything hat. )

Are you planning on making the pirate hat a regular part of your wardrobe?

( katherine never struck him as a hat person, if he's honest. )

[manipulative]

Maybe.

[ she dips her hat on her head with a smile and a mock curtsey. if they had to play the game of being on the high seas, she would definitely keep the hat to play the part. ]

I think that when we get to shore, I might put it away for a special occasion.

[prescind]

Special occasion like us having to suddenly be on a ship again?

( he would rather this be the last time. he doesn't hate boats but he's also not a huge fan. he likes having his feet on solid ground. )

Or maybe Halloween?