coming at you fast, midnight

[cosmiccon]

Comments

[beanchaointe]

A lot of needs were converging at once.

[And since they're the only ones who haven't been properly introduced, she holds up a finger to indicate herself.]

Lydia.

[Then she points to the werewolf standing next to her.]

Isaac.

[Isaac waves, with his familiar smartass smirk. "Sup."]

[recrudesce]

Tyler. Liv. ( and then he nods. ) Ryan.

( "Tyler." No animosity. Just brief, gruff trading of masculine energy that heterosexual men do in front of their current/ex-girlfriend. Someone should break this up. )

[vampireboulevard]

Right. So Bonnie is here to look at some Grimmoires to find out some stuff about something called the Gauntlet?

[Because that is the witch ask to all of this.]

While I am going to go check on my vampire mentee and make sure he's okay. And we all meet in Mystic Falls at the Grille when we're done?

[recrudesce]

The Bennett case is over here.

( "Case?" Bonnie asks, as Tyler draws her, Lydia, and Isaac further into the armory.

Ryan stays put.

"You're meeting Stiles?" )

[vampireboulevard]

[Caroline nods.]

And as much as I enjoy your company, I think this needs to be a one-on-one conversation.

[But she doesn't want to just abandon Ryan to her friends, so:]

Are you going to be okay here while I'm gone?

[widenecked]

As much as I enjoy your company I think I'll be able to entertain myself.

( Caroline's concern is cute, but he does well on his own. He'll wander. )

[vampireboulevard]

Okay.

[She smiles, before leaning in to kiss him gently.]

I'll see you at the Grille.

[And with that, she'll duck out of the Armory to go meet Stiles.

And Ryan is free to return to the rest of the group where Isaac is settling into the seat next to Bonnie so they can gossip and over research. Because that's what everyone should do over research.

"So. Have you met Derek?"]

[phonetically]

( Meanwhile, in Mystic Falls, Stiles parks the Jeep he had shipped across the country on the street. He crosses, exhaling. Readying himself, he lets himself into the Grille and slides into the booth the group had their summit in back when their lives involved local real estate.

He's dressed as a civilian but his look has elevated since he was a teenager, and since he was turned. He knows things change once someone is turned. Maybe his change will be for the better. )

[vampireboulevard]

[Caroline strides into the Grille like she's supposed to be there. No matter where you go, Mystic Falls always welcomes you home - at least, that's what Stefan and Damon have taught her. She knows there's going to be a time when it's just her and Lizzie making this trip home, long after all her human friends are gone and even with only the Salvatores there to greet her, Mystic Falls will still be Mystic Falls.

She glances over to Stiles with a smile, before sliding into the booth across from him.]

Hey. You look good.

[phonetically]

Thanks. Do you tell that to all the vampires that failed your 101?

( Confidence may travel. )

[vampireboulevard]

[She smirks, before leaning over and dropping her voice a bit.]

Hate to tell you, but if you haven't murdered anyone yet, you're technically still passing.

[No one gets through vampirism clean, but unless he's hiding a body she hasn't told him about, he's miles ahead of most Mystic Falls vamps.]

[phonetically]

That's your bar?

( Has he been excelling all this time? )

Can I share something with you?

[vampireboulevard]

In your first few months, yes. Making it through the day without committing murder is the bar.

[But she nods as the waitress comes over, and Caroline orders herself a drink before leaning back and glancing back to him.]

Share away.

[phonetically]

( Not wanting to become his father, Stiles has taken to coffee, but once a day he makes it Irish. His once hasn't happened yet. )

When I skipped town, it wasn't -- ( He sighs. ) I said it was about control and about putting everyone in danger, but, I was vulnerable and I'd gotten close to someone I didn't think I'd have a chance with -- and instead of let myself try, I...

( Fill in the blanks. )

[vampireboulevard]

Ah. The old having feelings for someone as a human was hard enough but now being a vampire makes everything worse so I'm just going to run away instead of dealing with it routine.

[Caroline nods, because hoo-boy has she been there.]

You are not the first to fall into this trap, you will not be the last.

[phonetically]

Yeah. And then all my friends were doxxed and everyone is in the wind.

( And in touch, but he's now permanently out of touch. )

You sound like you have experience.

[vampireboulevard]

Oooh. Okay.

[She takes a sip of her arrived drink as they dig back into the wayback machine of Caroline Forbes' relationships.]

In high school, before I got turned, I was dating a guy named Matt. We'd known each other since we were like, five, and he had always had eyes for Elena, but he and Elena broke up and she started seeing Stefan and Matt and I got ... closer.

[Awkwardly, with a lot of starts and stops.]

But then I got turned and everything changed. I had all these magnified emotions and a blood lust that I was struggling to handle. And I was not the fully evolved adult you see before you. I was a seventeen year-old girl with seventeen year-old jealousy issues, and a lot of teenage girls unfortunately got compelled because I thought they were hitting on my boyfriend. It was not my best look.

[To say the least.]

Matt and I had ups and downs where we would get back together and then break up again and I was lying to him the whole time because he didn't know about vampires and then him lying to me because he and my mom found out and were not dealing with it well so ... it was a big mess. And I started kind of having feelings for his best friend. And as I say it now, this is not the most reassuring story.

[Especially since it ends with her and Matt deciding that ending their relationship was what was best for them.]

But I will say that once Matt got used to the whole vampire and werewolf thing and ... over the me wanting to kiss Tyler thing, we got back to being friends again. We figured things out. And the upside to your particular situation is that she already knows about vampires. And knows that you're a vampire. So all you have to do is the much scarier part of actually sharing your feelings.

[phonetically]

What if I don't know what my feelings are. I'm dating my work, basically. Every summer I interned at the FBI and when I graduated from college, I went right to Quantico. When our paths crossed we hadn't seen each other since I was in high school.

( Forget stops or starts. )

I kissed her once in an ambulance.

[vampireboulevard]

Well, you don't have to make a decision right now. That's one of the bonuses of being a vampire. You have the luxury of time.

[They have forever, after all.]

And because we have time ... you're not restricted to only one epic love and if you don't find it at right that second when it crosses your path, that doesn't mean it's over with that person forever. I mean, sure. If the world was perfect, that's the way it could work, but it doesn't.

[She takes another sip of her drink.]

You said it yourself, you kissed her once in an ambulance and she was gone, but here she is again. And maybe now isn't the right time either, but ... I am very much guilty of trying to control things and pushing them so hard that they break. And while I don't regret speaking up for my needs at the time, I do regret forgetting that we had time to figure things out and things weren't going to be hard and scary forever.

So ... take your time. If it's meant to be, then it'll be there when you're both ready.

[phonetically]

You're really good at this.

( Being a vampire, giving advice, coming off as the coolest mentor, running a school, you name it, he assumes Caroline kicks ass at it. )

[vampireboulevard]

[She laughs.]

Someone should benefit from all my years of mistakes.

[And that's what she's here for. To help Stiles, so that he turns out okay. So that he has a better shot than vampires of the past.]

[phonetically]

You look at it that way, I look at it as everything I can learn from. Teach me your ways.

( He skipped the first time around, but, maybe it could be good for him. )

I'm sort of, in and out of the equivalent of couple's therapy with my partner, but talking to you more, maybe -- weekly -- could do me real good. And not just because I don't have to talk in metaphors with you. Do you... counsel in your off hours? Outside of the Mystic Grille?

[vampireboulevard]

My phone is always on. And if we're in the same place, I'm always down to grab a drink with a friend.

[Because that's what this will be at the end of the day. A friend to be able to touch base with when living forever gets hard.]

[phonetically]

I don't ask for help. Like ever. So. That means a lot.

( As good as it is to be honest and work through everything, he realizes he has much more to work through. And his biggest problem? Is not being a vampire, but, being Stiles. )

How did you get in your line of work, anyway?

[vampireboulevard]

Well, that is a very long story.

[But she will tell it over several more drinks and possibly some snacks until the rest of their group arrives. Lydia slides into the booth next to Stiles with a sigh.

"Well, that was an exercise in nothing we didn't already know."]