deercountry | out of the fire, into the frying pan

This is what they both wanted, isn't it? They had the both ended up here with the urge to fight and now that's what was going to happen. They were going to fight.

When she charges at him, he has just the barest of seconds to make a decision. He thinks about stepping aside but instead he just lets her barrel into him. He hits the ground but he hangs onto her and drags her with him.

As soon as he's stable, he lashes out, swinging the point of his elbow up at her face so she can't get too much of an advantage on him.

As soon as she's on top of him, Katherine's quick to react. Legs straddling him, she sits on him like a throne and dodges the elbow to the face. Really, Stefan? The face? This face?

Even though she knows she could easily hurt him—pull his arm from its socket, snap the bone right in half and tear his skin off—Katherine doesn't. She doesn't want to hurt Stefan. Maybe bruise him up a little so that she can feel satisfied and he can lie prone beneath her like he should.

She tries to grip his arm so she can press it back into the ground.

It was inevitable that she was going to come out on top both literally and metaphorically. She's a very old vampire which makes her very strong but he's not going to just lay there and let her win.

She grabs for one of his arms but he goes for the dirty move and uses his other to grab at her hair, giving it a sharp tug to try and knock her off balance and maybe cause enough of a sting that she gets off him.

He doesn't want to hurt her either but he doesn't want this to be over so soon, not when the urge to fight is still thrumming through him.

"Ow!"

Katherine grits her teeth and growls, jaw setting in anger. She doesn't move off of him, but it's enough to pull her hand from his arm to try and grip her hair to stop the pain. This isn't the first time someone's grabbed her hair to try and throw her off-kilter and she knows it won't be the last.

"Not exactly the way I like it."

With her other hand, she shoves it into his face.

Stefan reaches up and gives her another shove, trying to get her off of him. He scrambles up and then tries to do some pinning of his own, climbing on top of her and grabbing at her arms to keep them down.

"Stop struggling. Just let me...just let me so we can get this over with!"

Because that'll surely work.

"Let you?"

Katherine's brows shoot up into her hairline. While she allows him to pin her, she won't be giving him such lenience for long. Older, stronger, meaner—it all plays a role in how she's survived so long.

She frowns and glares at him.

"And who's to say you should win? The hero hair!?"

"You're the only one that calls it that!"

For that, he squeezes her wrists tighter, digging his nails into her skin like that's going to cause any pain for her. It probably feels like a gnat landing on her but he has to take his advantage while he can.

"And I wish you wouldn't. It's just hair!"

Yes, that's what they were going to argue about right now.

"Really, Stefan? I'm the only one who calls it hero hair?"

Katherine rolls her eyes and lets him squeeze her wrists. The more energy he exerts, the easier it's going to be to take him down... not that it's already so easy given that she's got two hundred years on him.

She glares up at him. While she doesn't buck him off or pull her hands easily out from his, she knows that she has another advantage up her sleeve. Stefan's a good person. The big striking and handsome hero who never wants to hurt anyone, even when he feels the impulse to do so.

"Let go."

"Why, so you can get me on my back and do the same?"

He squeezes harder and contemplates headbutting her to see if he can knock her off. But, everything about her is hard so he guesses that he'd jar her but he'd knock himself out possibly too.

So, saves that as a possibility to use if he really needs a last resort. He presses all his weight down on her and leans, putting all his strength into his hands and hips.

"You're down. Give up."

With the added pressure of his hands and body, Katherine knows that Stefan really thinks he has a chance at winning this. Even though she adores him, she's not going to let him win. She's thrown friends to the wolves to get ahead in her long-term play of chess. She'll do the same to Stefan. He has to know that she'll do the same to him if it means she gets to survive.

The veins beneath her eyes begin to protrude. Her eyes turn black.

Katherine snarls, "You give up."

Rolling forward, she uses what little momentum she has beneath her strength to shove him off of her.

His face doesn't change just yet but when she shoves him, he rolls off her and uses the momentum to get back to his feet. He's a few feet away from her now, standing still and waiting for her move.

"Are you going to bite me now, Katherine? Is that what you're going to do? Drain me?"

She wouldn't. He has to believe she wouldn't despite everything that was churning through them.

"And I thought you loved me."

Standing, she makes it a point to brush her forearms to stop herself from glaring at him. Does he really think that little of her? It says a lot about someone what they're willing to say in the heat of the moment. If Katherine wanted him dead, he would've been dead before he ever stepped foot in Deerington.

Instead of letting herself be upset, Katherine rolls her eyes. "You're so melodramatic."

But she doesn't attack him—to prove a point.

"You called me worse."

He takes a few deep breaths, watching her, trying to guess what she might try and do to him. He wants to rush at her, get the advantage again but he knows that she's probably planning her attack and creating several backup plans just in case.

"How is this going to end, Katherine?"

He doesn't know what they'll have to do to stop the urge to fight each other.

Her brow furrows in confusion. Since arriving in the arena, she's done as she's needed to get closer to being able to go back home—to him. With him being the next alleged monster she's meant to face, she's said nothing but for him to walk away.

If he was anyone else, she'd easily punch him until all the bones in his ribcage shattered. Katherine stays where she is, feeling that desire to fight ebb away at the hurt she feels.

Masking her expression, she looks at him rather tiredly. "However you want it to."

Stefan stands there, putting his hands on his hips and looking down at his feet. He doesn't really know what to do from here, if he should take advantage or just stand there and do what she says.

Maybe he should just walk away. He holds his hands up but he doesn't retreat, rubbing his hands over his face. Then, they drop to his sides.

"I don't know what we're doing," he tells her, confusion tinging his voice. "I don't — are you all right?"

Edited 2021-09-13 23:31 (UTC)

"We're fighting. We used to do it all the time."

It's not something that they do now—and it's a big reason why Katherine's held back. It'd be easy to end this. All she'd have to do is act fast and hard, but she's never really been one to use her speed and strength to kill anyone. She much prefers it to be done by someone else's hand or by something else entirely, even if her hands aren't quite as clean as she'd like them to be.

She's killed monsters in this arena, but she's not going to kill a person just so she can go back home. There'd be no one to go back home to.

"Surprisingly, you always survived that. I wonder why."

Because of her.

"But why are we fighting? What's going on?"

But he thinks he knows the answer to that. Just as in Deerington, there's something about this place that can get into their blood, dig into their bones and make them want to do things that they wouldn't usually do.

He rubs a hand over his face before he curls it into a fist. He squeezes hard to get the last vestiges of aggression out of him before he takes a breath.

"I don't want to fight you."

"I made that very clear before."

Katherine considers crossing her arms against her chest, but she keeps them loose and hanging by her sides. Crossing them means that she lacks a defence if he chooses to charge at her and she knows that despite being quick to draw, it's still a loss of a chance to defend herself.

She regards him with narrowed eyes.

"This place makes you want to fight." And she isn't quite sure if she believes he's completely over it. Stefan can be sneaky when he wants to be. "I doubt there's an alternative way of getting out of here."

"Then, I'll go fight someone else. I don't want to do this with you."

Someone's bound to get hurt in some way, shape or form even if she's not going full throttle. She's still very strong and a poke from her could send most people reeling.

He rubs a hand over his face and looks around. There were people milling about, watching the fights, fighting themselves.

"We don't need to do this with each other."

"Why?

Katherine arches her brow. Of course, she knows why. If this is meant to lead to death, then there can only be one winner. Katherine suspects Stefan's the one who's most likely to give that title up—what with being a hero and all. Even with the blood flecking his hair, it still looks quite heroic.

Even though it's very clear that he's snapped out of whatever it is that he'd been under, Katherine feels as she had before: as in control as she can be, given the circumstances. She still feels that desire to fight, but just like her own bloodlust, she pushes it down and tries to channel it some other way.

"Afraid that I'll drain you?"

"I'm not afraid of you."

She could kill him, he knows, if she wanted to. But she hasn't before and he knows she won't know. He shakes his head quickly.

"But I don't want this place forcing us to hurt each other either. What do you want me to do? Stay here? Fine. Knock me out so this can end."

Because he knows he won't be able to win.

This could easily be a trick. It hasn't been lost on Katherine how he's seemingly changed tact. No longer is he trying to goad her into fighting him, but she can't quite trust it. Deerington—Deer Country, whatever—has a way of impacting the people inside of it. Katherine wouldn't be Katherine if she didn't anticipate this to be a trap.

She scrunches up her face in distaste.

"And then have you claim that I don't love you? Hard pass."

"Katherine, what do you want me to do?"

He doesn't know what to do if any of his suggestions aren't attractive to her. He's offered to walk, to let her knock him out, and she's refused every single one of them.

Sighing, he puts his hands behind his back and gets down onto his knees, letting himself be the vulnerable, exposed one.

"Knock me out and we can end this. Just do it."

When Katherine's brows furrow together, it's not out of any anger—although it's still there, bubbling away. She doesn't tear her gaze away from Stefan despite wanting to. She stands tall and feels and looks uncomfortable. Standing stiffly, she peers down at him without tilting her head.

Despite wanting to look away or even turn on her heel and do what she does best—run—Katherine doesn't move. The sight before her is an uncomfortable one.

Through gritted teeth, Katherine hisses, "Get up." But her hiss doesn't sound as though it's a sound of anger. She sounds afraid.

"Katherine, just do it. Knock me out. I trust you. Knock me out and get me out of here."

If they have to do something, this is the only way that Stefan sees to make it happen. She's stronger and she'll be able to make sure he wakes up whereas other people might not care.

"Come on, just do it." He doesn't bow his head but he looks up at her, nodding. "Let's get out of here."

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