deercountry | out of the fire, into the frying pan

[ katherine looks straight ahead, frustrated. she's not entirely sure what she's meant to do now. jumping out of the canoe isn't an option—who knows what's swimming down beneath the water or what the water is made of—and trying to make it go faster seems impossible without any equipment.

what works for her is looking straight ahead, but clearly, that isn't a workable option for stefan. ]

Then what do you want to do, Stefan?

I didn't say you had to do anything.

( he rubs his hands over his face and then pulls them away, shaking his head. )

Why are you getting angry at me that I don't want to look? I don't want to look at dead people, Katherine. It's a lot.

( he was very used to bodies but the bodies his friends, his loved ones was something different. )

And I told you to look at me instead.

[ katherine crosses her arms against her chest and sits back in the canoe. looking straight ahead, she ignores the posts and the bodies she can see from her peripherals. all she's tried to do is help. it's all she has tried to do, even when she doesn't have the right answers for it. ]

I was only trying to help.

I know.

( stefan sighs and looks up and at her. he doesn't know how to explain what he doesn't want to happen to her. )

Katherine, I'm just — I'm deathly afraid that I'm going to see you even out of the corner of my eye. I know you're trying to help, I appreciate it. I just won't be able to deal with it if I see you.

( he'd be out of the canoe and moving towards the body as quickly as he could. )

[ to think that someone would be upset at seeing her strapped to a post is different. it's where klaus thinks she belongs... she's certain elijah thinks it, too. everyone does. anyone who has crossed paths with her thinks that fate is well-deserved even though katherine's beginning to realise it's not.

there's no real way to fix being in the canoe. she doesn't trust dipping into the waters—the water of deerington had been different, safe and rather boring, but with how things had transpired in deer country since the beginning... ]

Close your eyes.

[ she rests a hand against his thigh as she watches him. ]

You can think of me naked if you want.

Are you not afraid of what you might see, Katherine?

( or maybe afraid isn't the right word. maybe he's worried that she'll see something and it'll jar her but she'll dismiss it because she always pushes things down like that. )

You can't say you're not affected.

( especially if she saw her mother or her daughter or even him, he guesses. but he knows the first two would really shake her. )

[ she opens her mouth and considers lying. she's not afraid of what she can see. she can bear anything... but he'll see right through her.

reluctantly, ] I am.

[ she rubs his thigh anxiously as if it's her own. sitting up straight and tall against the back of the canoe, she looks down to the tip of the canoe and not beyond it. ]

But I have been afraid of seeing specific things all my life. You just have to remember it's not real.

[ easier said than done, she knows. ]

I know. But that's easier said than done.

( because this place has a way of making it look so real and so terrible. he keeps his eyes covered and shakes his head. )

And I know there's certain people that would even affect you.

( she doesn't let many people in but when she does, she let's them in deep. )

[ and they don't really need to discuss that, do they? because once they do, katherine knows they'll appear. she doesn't want to see nadia or her mother or even luca. she's very much happy to not see anyone at all. really drive home how she has no one but the boy sitting beside her.

she shifts where she sits. sitting up a little taller, she quietly defies deer country. ] That's why I'm not looking.

[ she turs her head to look at stefan. that's who she's choosing to look at. ]

Okay.

( stefan takes a breath and then pulls his hands away from his face so he can look at her and only her. )

I'll look at you.

( he doesn't want her to be alone. )

[ after a brief moment, she narrows her eyes and wiggles her eyebrows in an attempt to make him laugh. staring at someone isn't something she's overly comfortable with. she feels as though someone can see the true her—and that's not something she's ever wanted.

but given the circumstances, staring at one another can be a little awkward… so katherine wishes to do something else: her plan is to make them focus on something that isn't the canoe. ]

You have nice eyes.

Stop it.

( the wiggling thing she's doing with her eyes. he makes a face and looks away, trying to hide a laugh before he looks back at her. )

You have a nice face.

( a nice everything. )

Do I?

[ this is perhaps the part where she asks him if it's the better version of her face she's seen, but katherine doesn't want to open that can of worms up for herself or for him. she's here, it's her face he's talking about, and she's not so insecure as to bring it up.

so, instead, she scrunches up her nose as if she's about to sneeze. ]

What about now?

Are you making faces at me to try and make me laugh?

( he doesn't much mind that. it's a cute nose and he reaches out and flicks her nose. )

It's still a good face.

Hey!

[ she laughs softly. scrunching up her nose and wiggling it, she shakes her head and sits still, letting her expression relax. while he hasn't laughed yet, she knows there's time. at least he's focusing on the best person on the boat.

rubbing her fingertips gently against her nose, she feigns a pout. ] You almost flicked it off.

You'd just grow it back.

( since they were back to being fully powered vampires and all. he waits till she pulls her hands away from her nose and then he flicks it again, laughing. )

I like your nose. I like everything about you.

( duh. )

You better be careful.

[ katherine tries to flick his fingers away with her index, although she doesn't try overly hard. wiggling her nose, she scrunches it up as if she's about to sneeze before she settles back against the canoe. ]

You won't like noseless Katherine.

How do you know? I've never been witness to a noseless Katherine.

( but he does pull his hands back and rests them on his knees, smiling a bit. )

But fine, I'll leave your nose alone.

[ but what will he attack now? katherine eyes him, suspecting that stefan has something else up his sleeve—and if he doesn't, he'll find something lodged up there in no time. he seems happy annoying her senselessly. ]

Good.

[ she narrows her eyes slightly at him, suspecting he'll whip his hand up to touch her nose again. ]

She's not as pretty as me.

You act like you have experience with a version of yourself without a nose.

( what kinds of things were you doing when you hadn't been with stefan, katherine? )

I know you have a lot of doppelgangers but that one might take the cake.

[ she has a lot of doppelgängers. she likes that approach more than claiming she's one of many. as far as she's concerned, she came first—and she's the only doppelgänger worth paying any attention to. ]

At least it makes me memorable.

[ don't you agree? he'd carried her photograph around for a century and a half. she thinks she's more than memorable. ]

A doppelgänger without a nose... No one will ever forget me.

You're memorable already, Katherine. You don't need to lack a nose. Just be yourself.

( he'd fallen in love with her once and then again. or maybe he hadn't ever fallen out of love with her and it had just simmered for so long. )

And I'm pretty sure you know you're memorable.

Am I?

[ she shifts closer towards him, the canoe rocking gently beneath her. knees bumping into the sides of his thighs, she rests her hands between her legs and regards him with a cocked brow and an eager look. ]

How?

[ feed her. you only have yourself to blame. ]

( yeah, stefan knew that was coming. he rolls his eyes and shakes his head. )

You're fishing.

( he knows what you're doing. )

Can you blame me? I like the fish I'm trying to catch.

[ that's you. contrary to what stefan may believe, she knows she's caught him time and time again—and that he's wanted to be caught by her.

smiling, katherine cocks her brow and looks at him expectantly. ]

Are you going to bite?

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