[She relaxes the rest of the way, settling back into her seat with her drink.]
You know, of the various supernatural combos I've done dating wise, which hasn't been one of them.
[Witches don't really go for vampires, though, not generally. Or unless they're looking for the dark-and-sexy combo, which Caroline has moved on from.
Mostly.]
Very small world though. And also, thank you. I've been so worried I'd slip to the wrong person and then have to answer a bunch of very awkward questions.
I didn't mean to. I was on this whole Eat, Pray, Stop Being Such a Controlling Bitch thing after high school. And he was just so...
( She wants her to guess something, only to say: )
French.
( Nothing at all wrong with dark and sexy! )
I would think it's pretty easy to keep a lid on what you do. You work outreach for a school, right? Just say recruitment. Nobody cares enough to ask about recruitment... No offense.
Oh, no, totally. It's just ... been a long time since I've been to a party where I was hiding so much of who I am. I guess I'm just not used to it in a non-professional capacity.
[But she's handling it.]
It's worth it, though. Things with Ryan are really good and I'm enjoying getting to know his people.
( She narrows her eyes at that, because, she hasn't put two-and-two together.
As soon as recognition crosses her face, Ryan, having vampire heard from the other room, leaves his little sister, Sandy, Kirsten, and Julie Cooper, and swoops in. As nonchalantly as Ryan Atwood can do.
"You found Taylor.")
Yes, Ryan, your ex-girlfriend found your current girlfriend, but didn't stalk her, or follow her with a dummy Instagram. She's going the old-fashioned ( Her eyes fall on a piece of jewelry on Ryan's finger, which stops her sarcasm in it's tracks as her words trail off. ) conversation... route.
( She glances to the hand holding a glass of wine. Caroline's. )
[Caroline's head tips to the side, because she assumed (perhaps wrongly) that someone who knows about her school is aware that it has a vampire for a headmistress. But she doesn't have time to bring that up before Ryan is there and this is his ex girlfriend, and then Taylor makes the vampire connection and oh no.
Fresh air with Ryan Atwood, mon ami. And Caroline, cherie.
( She smiles through the awkward, not making a scene as she knowingly glances away from both hands, whisking herself and the two following back across the living room and out the back to the pool.
Ryan closes the door behind them, and turns.
"Okay, go.")
When!
("Last year. I was hired under false pretenses and held... captive," he says, not liking how it sounds but that's how it happened. "And, instead of letting me live, they - didn't.")
Ryan...
("I'm okay, Taylor.")
Well, I know that. You don't work with the Salvatore school without knowing Caroline Forbes' reputation. You hit the jackpot in more ways than one. I do think you smile even less as a vampire, but Atwood beggars... ( her being one. ) I just - I didn't know.
("How do you know?" She gives him a look. "Not about us, Taylor. About what we are. About vampires.")
Well, Henri-Michele was a witch. ( And that slides off the tongue like it's nothing. ) And from there, a lot of my academic interests lent themselves well to certain kinds of research. I started getting into dead languages... I made the right friend at the right conference... I even met a guy in DC and he already knew about the supernatural, too. It felt good. Like, the rest of the world wasn't in on this big secret.
When I realized you knew Emma and about the school, I thought you also knew about my vampire-ness. So that was totally my bad for assuming.
[She pauses before shrugging.]
So yeah. What I was saying about how our relationship is a consultant-consultee situation isn't actually really the case either. It was just a ... convenient cover story for when I was helping Ryan acclimate.
[She can tell? Caroline doesn't really know what to say to that. Are they all good? Is there something Caroline should be worried about? But before she can stumble into something awkward, the door opens behind them and an unfamiliar face pokes his head out.
Sweets had been off talking with Seth, but he had been given a signal, and he's going to to fulfill his role as Boyfriend:]
Hey, honey, you wanted me to let you know when a new batch of latkes were ... out ...
[It's also at the end of the sentence when he realizes he may have walked into something awkward.]
( She can tell that he's happy. That he's with the right person, or a person who feels right now. And, thanks to extenuating circumstances, he has more than enough time to find more people who are right. Later and so on. Or, this is it. She could see Ryan settling down. He deserves it. It was a wonder he didn't for so long. But, he threw himself into his work. When not working for the his firm, he did things on the side charitably. )
Not at all. Dr. Lance Sweets, this is Ryan Atwood ( whom she's discussed. Taylor is nothing if not a talker about all things including exes and pregnancy scares. and train trips. and what-if's at friends' weddings. ) and Caroline Forbes. Of the Salvatore School.
Like I said, small world. Emma Tig referred me to a client who I am thirty percent sure is six degrees of separation away from you.
( To Caroline. )
Which now making a connection to the name to the face to the school, is really neat. It's like we all have own little secret club at Christmas. ( Turning to Sweets. )Ryan got himself turned.
("Turned?" Sandy Cohen comes up, rounding the house with a plate of something he's going to put on the grill. "Julie brought veggie burgers, I completely forgot." Kirsten had nudged him. Never mind the dessert was already out. "What'd you turn?" he asks Ryan, expectantly. )
[Sweets flashes Sandy a grin, sliding in just a bit quicker than Caroline with a smooth reference back to his and Seth's conversation in the house (17).]
World of Warcraft. Seth has been trying to get Ryan to play with us and we were trying to decide whether we wanted to be Alliance or the Hoard. The Hoard is infinitely cooler, and Ryan is just starting to see the light.
( Caught off guard, Ryan inexplicably rolls an (18) to continue the deception. Sandy is several beers in (8). )
There is finally daylight in my schedule to give it real thought and as many times as I told Seth that World of Warcraft is his thing, his kid is too young, so I gave in. Honestly, whatever they say, Alliance or Hoard, I'm just going to go with.
( Sandy just doesn't process much of that because he doesn't quite care. There is something at the back of his mind, the 'us,' if Seth and Sweets knew each other through Taylor - but, this is Christmas and when his son has a bone he does not let it go.
"Well, I hope your hoarding proves successful," he says, taking his tray of veggie burgers and beer over to the grill. "Caroline, you want to come help me?" he calls back. And even though it's a lovely, nice ask. It's clear. Not an question. )
[Caroline lives to be helpful. She turns to follow Sandy and once his back is turned, she mouths "thank you" to Sweets, who nods in return. She then turns back, looking over the grill setup before turning back to Sandy.]
("Have you ever grilled before?" he asks, without waiting for an answer as he sets the temperature he wants, letting it heat up. "There's an art to it. A timing. You put the patty on. You watch the flames, the juice. You flip - once - so it doesn't get too dry. There's thought behind it." He holds a hand over the griddle, dropping the top so it can heat up.
"How are you liking a Newport Christmas, Caroline?")
("We're happy to have you. And Ryan. The thing is, we haven't seen Ryan in person for over a year now. We know he was only recently affiliated with your charity work and your outreach." Recently in Sandy speak is the last year. "But, we worry about him. Ryan tends to sit in the flames a little too long. Seeks out the grill. Jumps out of the frying pan -- You get it," he explains.
[And she thinks that the person they should be asking is Ryan himself, because she isn't really sure how to talk about it for him. He's been through a lot of change over the course of the last year.
Is she the fire he's referring to?
She's also well aware that Ryan can hear all of this and she doesn't want to misstep.]
If it helps, I don't feel like he's on fire? Or in a frying pan? I'm ... not really sure how this metaphor works. Unless I'm the frying pan in question?
("Life's the frying pan," Sandy says, opening the grill top again and distributing the patties onto the grate. "A life Ryan included us in until he started his involvement in your organization." He turns to her. "And I don't blame you for him checking in less. He is a grown man. I just want to make sure in those times we're kept in the dark, that he has someone. Someone to keep him out of the fire. Or, get him back into the frying pan. It's... not my best metaphor.")
("It shows," he insists. "And Kirsten likes you, which is not an easy get." Kirsten loves them Type-A and feels like since Marissa, Ryan has had that kind of type. "Thank you, for spending this holiday with our family."
He knows something else came up, an emergency that sent her away. But she returned.
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You know, of the various supernatural combos I've done dating wise, which hasn't been one of them.
[Witches don't really go for vampires, though, not generally. Or unless they're looking for the dark-and-sexy combo, which Caroline has moved on from.
Mostly.]
Very small world though. And also, thank you. I've been so worried I'd slip to the wrong person and then have to answer a bunch of very awkward questions.
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( She wants her to guess something, only to say: )
French.
( Nothing at all wrong with dark and sexy! )
I would think it's pretty easy to keep a lid on what you do. You work outreach for a school, right? Just say recruitment. Nobody cares enough to ask about recruitment... No offense.
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[But she's handling it.]
It's worth it, though. Things with Ryan are really good and I'm enjoying getting to know his people.
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( She narrows her eyes at that, because, she hasn't put two-and-two together.
As soon as recognition crosses her face, Ryan, having vampire heard from the other room, leaves his little sister, Sandy, Kirsten, and Julie Cooper, and swoops in. As nonchalantly as Ryan Atwood can do.
"You found Taylor." )
Yes, Ryan, your ex-girlfriend found your current girlfriend, but didn't stalk her, or follow her with a dummy Instagram. She's going the old-fashioned ( Her eyes fall on a piece of jewelry on Ryan's finger, which stops her sarcasm in it's tracks as her words trail off. ) conversation... route.
( She glances to the hand holding a glass of wine. Caroline's. )
Oh, my god, Ryan...
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This conversation needs to be somewhere else.]
Maybe we should take this outside?
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( She smiles through the awkward, not making a scene as she knowingly glances away from both hands, whisking herself and the two following back across the living room and out the back to the pool.
Ryan closes the door behind them, and turns.
"Okay, go." )
When!
( "Last year. I was hired under false pretenses and held... captive," he says, not liking how it sounds but that's how it happened. "And, instead of letting me live, they - didn't." )
Ryan...
( "I'm okay, Taylor." )
Well, I know that. You don't work with the Salvatore school without knowing Caroline Forbes' reputation. You hit the jackpot in more ways than one. I do think you smile even less as a vampire, but Atwood beggars... ( her being one. ) I just - I didn't know.
( "How do you know?" She gives him a look. "Not about us, Taylor. About what we are. About vampires." )
Well, Henri-Michele was a witch. ( And that slides off the tongue like it's nothing. ) And from there, a lot of my academic interests lent themselves well to certain kinds of research. I started getting into dead languages... I made the right friend at the right conference... I even met a guy in DC and he already knew about the supernatural, too. It felt good. Like, the rest of the world wasn't in on this big secret.
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[She pauses before shrugging.]
So yeah. What I was saying about how our relationship is a consultant-consultee situation isn't actually really the case either. It was just a ... convenient cover story for when I was helping Ryan acclimate.
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( "I've always kept my personal life private," he says. )
Except, when the subject of said personal life was on the tip of everybody's tongue.
( Not the time, she still doesn't harbor resentment toward Marissa Cooper. )
And now...
( "Now, I handle a lot of the infrastructure. Zoning laws. Light construction. And some vampire tutelage, eventually." Eventually. )
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[She's a vampire, she already has a very loose relationship with power dynamics to begin with.]
But I've been taking really good care of him. Promise.
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( "I know you, Ryan Atwood," Taylor says, knowingly. "I can tell." And that's coming from someone who always wanted the best for him. )
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Sweets had been off talking with Seth, but he had been given a signal, and he's going to to fulfill his role as Boyfriend:]
Hey, honey, you wanted me to let you know when a new batch of latkes were ... out ...
[It's also at the end of the sentence when he realizes he may have walked into something awkward.]
Sorry, am I interrupting?
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Not at all. Dr. Lance Sweets, this is Ryan Atwood ( whom she's discussed. Taylor is nothing if not a talker about all things including exes and pregnancy scares. and train trips. and what-if's at friends' weddings. ) and Caroline Forbes. Of the Salvatore School.
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Stiles speaks very highly of you.
[Caroline's eyes brighten. "You know Stiles?"]
We worked together at the FBI. Nice to meet you both.
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( To Caroline. )
Which now making a connection to the name to the face to the school, is really neat. It's like we all have own little secret club at Christmas. ( Turning to Sweets. ) Ryan got himself turned.
( "Turned?" Sandy Cohen comes up, rounding the house with a plate of something he's going to put on the grill. "Julie brought veggie burgers, I completely forgot." Kirsten had nudged him. Never mind the dessert was already out. "What'd you turn?" he asks Ryan, expectantly. )
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[Sweets flashes Sandy a grin, sliding in just a bit quicker than Caroline with a smooth reference back to his and Seth's conversation in the house (17).]
World of Warcraft. Seth has been trying to get Ryan to play with us and we were trying to decide whether we wanted to be Alliance or the Hoard. The Hoard is infinitely cooler, and Ryan is just starting to see the light.
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There is finally daylight in my schedule to give it real thought and as many times as I told Seth that World of Warcraft is his thing, his kid is too young, so I gave in. Honestly, whatever they say, Alliance or Hoard, I'm just going to go with.
( Sandy just doesn't process much of that because he doesn't quite care. There is something at the back of his mind, the 'us,' if Seth and Sweets knew each other through Taylor - but, this is Christmas and when his son has a bone he does not let it go.
"Well, I hope your hoarding proves successful," he says, taking his tray of veggie burgers and beer over to the grill. "Caroline, you want to come help me?" he calls back. And even though it's a lovely, nice ask. It's clear. Not an question. )
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[Caroline lives to be helpful. She turns to follow Sandy and once his back is turned, she mouths "thank you" to Sweets, who nods in return. She then turns back, looking over the grill setup before turning back to Sandy.]
What do you need?
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"How are you liking a Newport Christmas, Caroline?" )
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It's been lovely. Thank you so much for having me.
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"We just want to make sure Ryan isn't..." )
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[And she thinks that the person they should be asking is Ryan himself, because she isn't really sure how to talk about it for him. He's been through a lot of change over the course of the last year.
Is she the fire he's referring to?
She's also well aware that Ryan can hear all of this and she doesn't want to misstep.]
If it helps, I don't feel like he's on fire? Or in a frying pan? I'm ... not really sure how this metaphor works. Unless I'm the frying pan in question?
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[Okay, that does make her feel better. And even if it's not the strongest metaphor, it's an accurate one.]
I do have his back. I ... I'm still getting to know him in a lot of ways so I don't know him as well as you guys but ... I care about him a lot.
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He knows something else came up, an emergency that sent her away. But she returned.
He holds the spatula out.
"Want to flip?" )
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[She will take the spatula and will very carefully flip the burgers while not getting anything on her outfit.]
And thank you for inviting me. I have my friends and stuff, but it's been a long time since I've been to a real family holiday.
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