everyonelives | why is it you always get to sit in the shade

( Ryan lets Caroline try and sleep before pushing himself out of bed and over to the door. He gives a look back at Caroline before trying to stealthily crack the door open. (Nat 20) )

[At a room slightly angled down the hall from him is the frazzled, eccentric B&B owner and a large, oddly shaped man(?) carrying a large suitcase. There's something off about the way he moves, but Ryan can't see his face from where he's standing.

"Be careful with that! We don't want anything to break."

As the owner is reprimanding the bellhop(?), she spots that the Ryan's room is open (20), and jerks a little too suddenly in front to block the suitcase.

"So sorry, have we disturbed you? A guest needed help checking out early."

She's blocking the view of the suitcase now, but Ryan's vampire senses wouldn't miss the smell of blood.]

( He cracks the door open wider, trying not to let too much light into the room and trying not to look like he was spying. Still, his eyes fall where the suitcase is being blocked from his view. But, if anyone can play it cool, it's Ryan Atwood (18) at keeping it cool. )

I heard the door slamming. You allow your guests to check out in the middle of the night?

Edited 2022-10-17 23:26 (UTC)

["Not normally no, but poor dear had a terrible family emergency and needed to leave right away. We're putting her in a taxi to the airport right now." The woman looks at him pleadingly. "Please go back to bed. Everything'll be fine."]

( Intending to not go back to bed, Ryan closes the door, but instead moves over to the table to put his shoes on. His every intention is to follow them and the smell of blood. )

[The door closing finally rouses Caroline (15), and she blinks over at him when she sees him getting his shoes on.]

What's going on?

The inn owner is hiding something. I smelled blood.

( He finishes lacing up his shoes, jumping up. )

I'm going to follow them. Call Bonnie.

[Caroline nods, before getting out of bed and also putting on her shoes as she dials Bonnie's number. She can multitask, and this seems like the kind of problem where they use the buddy system.]

( And Ryan is back in the hallway. He gets (11) to listen where the owner and Lurch went. )

[He doesn't hear them anywhere nearby, but given the fuzziness of how things sound, that doesn't necessarily guarantee that they're off the floor. But the room that they had been taking things out of is currently not being attended to.]

( Ryan rolls a stealth check of (13) to slip inside the unattended room, hand searching for a switch to get the lights. )

[The switch is in the same place as it is in their room, right next to the door frame. As the light flicks on, the room looks ... normal. But Ryan can still smell the blood, as does Caroline when she catches up to him.]

Oh ... whoa. I see what you mean.

( He moves further inside so she can join him. )

She said they had a family emergency.

( Moving to the bathroom door, he peers inside. Anything? )

[Nope. Everything seems fine, but the scent of blood still permeates the room, even if they can't seem to find it. Though as he looks at the shampoo and conditioner sitting on the edge of the sink, it doesn't seem to be the standard branded soaps and shampoos that you would find in a hotel room.

Caroline's coming up empty as well (7). Her frustration is becoming clear as she searches the room behind him.]

It makes no sense! Everything looks fine but I can smell the stupid --

[Her voice cuts off as she lifts her hand and her voice takes a bit of a stressed turn:]

Uh, Ryan?

( Ryan turns back, the oddly branded soap and shampoo in each hand. He comes back out. )

Did you find -

[Caroline holds up her palm to face him, completely covered in tacky red blood. She's staring down at the bedspread of the bed, squinting as though she's trying to see through whatever it is that's hiding the source.]

The bed has blood on it. I can't see the blood? But it's there and it's wet, like it happened recently.

Is it - it's cloaked?

( Completely. And yes, after being a vampire for this long, he knows that's blood. )

What did Bonnie say?

She said she was sensing some major mojo. Maybe a ritual of some kind?

[She makes a face.]

Maybe this is some kind of witchy illusion?

( He remembers something about MG being involved with a witchy illusion, and being on the outs with the others. It's not an unknown concept. )

Are they concealing the body or the mess.

[Caroline almost wishes the twins were here, so they could siphon the lingering magic away so they could find out for sure. But either way, they need to find Bonnie and Isaac. This should definitely be an instance where they're sticking together.]

We should find the others. Something about this doesn't feel right.

( Everything about this doesn't feel right. He agrees, leading her back to Bonnie and Isaac's door, lightly rapping against it with his knuckles. He got a (3) to listen for where they might be, not to mention the hotel and its' magic - it's probably impeding. )

[Caroline's (4) isn't much better, mostly because she's trying to strain and catch for the sound of her friend's voice.]

She said she and Isaac were going to investigate the ritual she was feeling, maybe they're not --

[Suddenly Caroline's voice cuts off (14 vs. 12), and she coughs, a sputter of blood coming to her lips. Her body gives a jerk before she drops, and standing in her place is the B&B owner, bloody axe in her hand after having driven it into Caroline's back. Fortunately, the axe is not made of wood. The owner clearly doesn't know she's dealing with vampires.

She looks up at Ryan and huffs. "You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?"]

( But the owner is still a murderer! Probably several times over! Why did they stop at the murder B & B!

Since becoming a vampire, Ryan has seen blood. He's been the victim. Before becoming a vampire, he spent a summer fighting in cage matches in Mexico. He had a rough childhood, rough-housed, he was a tough guy. But, despite his demeanor suggesting he's made of stone, he isn't. )

Really. You think the best course of action is to straight up murder more people.

( But, he is always dry.

First thing's first, he speedily draws the axe out of Caroline's back so she can actually heal, before attempting a swing to hit the woman with the blunt end of the metal -- and he gets a whopping (5). )

[The owner just manages to dodge back (7), missing the blade but stumbling a bit as she tries to dodge.

Caroline gives a cough from the ground. It's her turn but she's just going to lay there and try to heal a bit, her boyfriend has got this right? Right. Maybe.

The owner sneers. "You're one to talk, vampire. You sure your hands are clean?" And that's just a rude assumption of her, but she's going to attempt to wrestle the axe back from him (13).]

( She gets the axe back because he tries not to step on his girlfriend (5).

He tries jumping, to hang onto a beam above him to kick her back with his feet. (13). )

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