deercountry | ( wow this sand is so quick!! )

[ she makes a mimicking mocking sound quietly under her breath. his shoes will break! she'll make sure of it, even if it means she has to break them herself. ]

Well, be a hero and hold my hand. You might get lost if you're left to your own devices.

[ she holds her hand out for him to take and wiggles her fingers. ]

( stefan rolls his eyes but he does take her hand because of course he does. he gives it a squeeze. )

Do you even know where we're going?

( he swings their hands as they walk, stepping over some vines as he does. )

Nope.

[ does anyone? she may be katherine pierce, but she's not a tour guide. she didn't survive five hundred years relying on maps. it's pure instinct that guides her now. ]

But I figure it won't be too bad. [ she looks at him and smiles too sweetly. ] I'm with you.

You're too optimistic about this.

( yeah, he's not sure what to make of that smile. he likes it because of course he does but he worries that she's taking this too lightly. )

I don't know if I feel as good about this place, with you or not. This place feels off.

And when we first came here, it was off.

[ but they made it work, which is her point. katherine's been thrust into different places and forced to adapt to societal expectations and cultures for over five hundred years. going with it and not fighting it saves a lot of energy. ]

At least it's not a bloody sinking cruiseliner. We have sights and sounds and tree roots to trip over.

[ she stomps down on an uproot particularly strongly and crushes it beneath her heel.

see that, stefan? her heel did that. ]

What was wrong with the cruise liner?

( besides the fact that it was sinking. it had been one of those first interactions that had brought them closer. )

It was a strange time but I didn't hate it.

I got stabbed and it ruined one of my favourite outfits.

[ and she had been so unwell thereafter, trapped with the wrong salvatore and with the right one trying to crawl under her skin. back then, it had been a confusing whirlwind that hadn't been fun at all. ]

And it was very cold. You did a poor job of keeping me warm.

You barely let me close to you.

( she'd been keeping him at arms length, trying to let him go and look how that had turned out. )

I think I got to brush your hair and that was it.

[ yeah, yeah, yeah. katherine pulls a face to convey as much. ]

You did a poor job of it, too. I had knots for days.

[ she looks at him pointedly. he did all right, all things considered. what had mattered the most is that he had given her a semblence of nadia. ]

I think your hair was a goner before I got down there. Damon was the one in charge of helping you out.

( and then he'd decided to come down there, against her wishes, and tried to do his best to pick up where his brother had left off. )

Your hair survived.

Barely.

[ she scoffs playfully. ]

How many Salvatores does it take to brush someone's hair? Apparently more than two.

[ granted, stefan does a good job of it these days. but for the sake of her argument, he's made a lot of progress from being absolutely bad at untangling those stubborn knots. ]

Maybe you shouldn't get into situations where your hair ends up knotted and a mess.

( did you ever think that maybe it was your fault, katherine? )

You're right.

[ she elbows him hard in the arm. ]

That's such a simple thing to do. Next time we're on a ship that's sinking, I'll be sure to keep my head above water! You're sexy and a genius.

I know.

( ow. he gives her a shove away from him and laughs. )

You should listen to me more often. I'm very intelligent.

Then you make all the navigational decisions and I'll sit back and enjoy the view.

[ and while they might not be in a car, katherine does take a big step back so that she can bring up the rear and admire stefan's. there's a fifty percent chance stefan's going to get them more lost than she would and she honestly cannot wait. ]

Yeah right, you would never let me have that much power. You get mad when I drive a certain way. You're not going to let me navigate and make all those decisions.

( stefan scoffs and shakes his head. he knows you, katherine. )

You don't like not having some control.

[ while he may be right, he's overlooked one thing: katherine's been letting stefan take control of some things over the course of the last year and a half. it's the small things: making decisions about dinner, driving, picking her shoes even if they don't go with her outfit, and trusting him to walk aleksander. she's been letting go. ]

I'm in control of my view right now and...

[ katherine lets out a low appreciative whistle. ]

Are you wearing the jeans I bought you? Snug in all the right places.

What? I don't know. All my jeans look the same to me. They're denim pants.

( so, maybe they are? maybe they're not? he's not sure. he looks down at them and then shakes his head. )

It doesn't really matter right now, does it?

It does since it's what I'll be looking at while you make the decisions for our course.

[ she even reaches forward and gives his undercarriage a little gentle slap. yep, those are definitely the jeans she bought for him. it makes her feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside that he's wearing them.

she feels a little domesticated. ]

Yep, those are it.

( stefan shoots her a look for that smack and then shakes his head. )

Would you stop that? You don't need to go smacking my ass to figure out if I'm wearing something you bought me?

( you're just trying to take advantage, katherine. )

I'm very old, Stefan. It helps me remember.

[ she'd poise her hand for another smack, but she holds her palms up in mock surrender and smiles at him sweetly. ]

Best keep your gaze forward. Wouldn't want to walk us into a tree, would you?

You're only very old when you wanna be.

( but he does as she asks, turning back to keep an eye on the path. he ducks underneath a low hanging branch and comes to what looks like a patch of mossy grass. )

Keep up, old woman.

I'm right behind you, Stefan.

[ right on his heels, even if there's a little bit of a respectful gap between them. no, it's not so she doesn't feel tempted to smack his ass. it's so she doesn't end up stepping on his heels.

she mutters, ] Not even enjoying the nice view of your ass.

( stefan starts walking and though the ground feels soft, it's not...terrible. he keeps going, one foot after another and then when he feels his shoe sink, he frowns. )

Stop, Katherine, stop.

( maybe the ground's just yet or something. )

[ katherine almost walks into him. while she had definitely been paying attention, she'd been a little distracted by the way his hair was shining and how there seemed to be a very small leaf in it.

she sighs, aggravated. ]

Why?

[ they were making so much effort! ]

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