deercountry | out of the fire, into the frying pan

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."

If the stakes happened to be a lot higher, Katherine doesn't think she'd hesitate at all. But she does. She knows that there is another way out of here that neither of them has properly seen yet. She had felt as though the need to fight had ebbed away each time she tried to lunge for him. Whether that's enough to open the doors and let them go back home is another question altogether.

But knocking him out isn't something she thinks is a good part of the plan.

"Get up." Again, she stares him down in case he thinks to try and knock himself into her to do what he wants. "We'll go."

Stefan doesn't understand why she won't do this and he has half a mind to just do it to himself but he doesn't. He rubs a hand over his face and gets to his feet, shaking his head.

He doesn't know what exactly she's got in mind because he's made suggestions, she's shot them down. He swallows and keeps space between them because he doesn't want to be tempted, doesn't want that urge to fight to come back.

"You want to leave?" He doesn't know if that's smart since he doesn't want them to be overcome with the urge to fight in their house.

"Mhm."

Katherine eyes him suspiciously. Even though he can't quite hurt her if he was to physically attack her, she's found that he's hurt her enough with one of his comments. Katherine doesn't offer him her hand, suspecting that if she does, this entire rumble will start over again.

"I didn't feel like fighting when I was at home."

"All right."

He sighs because while this is some kind of solution, she still seems off. He rubs a hand over his face and starts walking, noticing the lack of contact between them. He doesn't know why but he's not going to ask right now.

"Fine, all right, let's go."

He doesn't know if they're going to be able to, if this place was going to make it impossible because they'd stopped fighting but it was worth trying.

She takes a moment before she turns and walks after him. Looking around as discreetly as possible, she narrows her eyes when her gaze lands on the dirtied ground of where a monster she had slain had once been. Katherine knows she's not a killer; sometimes, surviving just entails it.

Fortunately, her expectation that they'll toss a monster inside is incorrect. Katherine's a little tired from the last rodeo.

She remains walking behind him.

"Why are you walking behind me?"

He doesn't say anything for a few moments, getting them away from the crowd as best as possible but he doesn't know what to do with her staying behind him. He wonders if she's keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn't end trying to turn on her again.

He doesn't look back but it's difficult.

"It feels like you're watching to make sure I don't flip out."

"Or maybe I'm watching your back."

This is where she would make a quip about his ass, but Katherine doesn't feel like it. This isn't the time nor the place. She doesn't feel like herself—and she doesn't like that at all. Out of all the things that she could rely upon, it was knowing that she could always control herself.

While she may not look over her shoulder, she's listening.

"I'm faster; I'll hear anything that comes up behind you a lot quicker than you will."

"Right."

It's logical and it makes sense. It doesn't mean that Stefan has to like that he can't see her and that she's not beside him. It feels...wrong. But, he's not going to press her because that's just going to start an argument and he already feels that might happen later.

"I don't feel like I'm going to fight you."

Just to let her know. Just to make sure she's aware he's okay.

"I'm not lying."

Even if she listened to his heart intently, she'd know that he's telling the truth. But Katherine doesn't need to listen to it. Despite being a little paranoid, as all old vampires tend to be, she knows that. Still, she remains behind him. She has her own reasons for it—and it's for the very one that she's shared.

"That's good. You've already ruined my hair."

With a few knots and dust particles. Her hair was already ruined with the monster blood caked through it.

"Your hair looks fine."

Stefan looks at her over his shoulder and smiles. It's not the widest smile he's ever given her but it's still genuine.

"Your hair is always fine."

Even with the blood and grit of the day, she's still beautiful.

"I can help you wash it when we get home, if you'd like."

"Let the man who barely knows how to style his own hair wash mine?"

She's seen the way he's brushed his hair—and sometimes chosen not to brush it—at times. Her hair requires a little more application than his, what with it being long and not being hero hair at all.

She cocks her brow, although it's not in judgement. She makes it a point to look him over. It's as playful as she's going to get while still inside of a stinky arena of monster blood.

"You'd have to convince me you have the hands for shampooing."

"You've let me touch your hair before. You've let me shampoo it before. What's different now?"

Besides the fact that they'd just tried to fight each other and obviously that hadn't gone well. He thinks they might need to talk about it but he also doesn't want to talk about it because he doesn't want her to be upset.

"I can't style your hair but I know how to put shampoo in the palm of my hand and wash your hair."

"You didn't put in enough last time."

What with all the hair she has, it's no wonder he didn't apply enough. Sometimes, Katherine thinks she goes through half a bottle with the way she lathers it.

She scrunches up her face, even if he can't see her from her place behind him. "I didn't have the heart to tell you. It was very dry after."

Her hair was fine after.

"Are you really critiquing my shampooing skills?"

From what he remembers, she hadn't had any complaints about his shampoo skills when she'd let him do it. He thinks she's just putting him on now, making it seem like he did a bad job so she can jibe him.

"Do you want me to just stand there and hold the bottle, then?"

He can make sure it doesn't fall on the floor while she does her own hair.

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