open ♔ valentine's day

[romanticidal]

♬ Careless Whisper - George Michael

WHO || Anyone and their special someone [Closed]
WHAT || Various Valentine's Day activities
WHERE ||Anywhere
WHEN || Feb 14th, 2016
HOW || Actionspam or Prose

[ It's Valentine's Day! ( aka Singles Awareness Day )  Assume that all missions that are posted already are going out after this. ♥ ]

Comments

[highlyemotional]

[ she listens with rapt attention, smiling to herself at his reaction. good boy. part of the reason she keeps questioning him about stuff like this is because she's trying to gauge what his reaction might be to... her.

it helps to know things, but sam was the first person to be nice to her. she doesn't want him to cut her out the way bonnie did, even if the two friendships are vastly different. ]

Dominate? Like weird BDSM stuff? [ caroline, focus. ] Why running water? That seems like such an arbitrary thing to be allergic to.

[familybusiness]

[He shakes his head.]

If someone is killed after being fed off of, sometimes the vampire can mentally dominate them for awhile before they die permanently.

[So pleasant.]

I'm not sure. Maybe because it's running water, it represents life, which would hurt an undead creature the way something holy or healing magic might. Or maybe it's because water is reflective like a mirror. Either way, older vampires don't like it much.

[He seems to be talking about this mostly in a scholarly way, without any real negativity. He's pretty invested in the whole nothing is black and white thing as far as moral areas goes, and his brother is dating a half-vamprie, so...?]

[highlyemotional]

That's... weird. Like, that's weird, right? Not just me? [ she fiddles with her ring, idly. ] Have you heard of vervain? It repelled vampires where I'm from, either ingested or if you were just wearing it, like a sprig in a locket or something. And it was seriously ouch making if a vampire touched it.

[familybusiness]

[And then he rolled a nat 20 knowledge check to know what...vervain is. Sam, you fucking nerd.]

Yeah, I've heard of it. It's a flower, also known as verbena. [He looks confused, then shakes his head.] I know it's used in some herbal medicines for several different conditions, but nothing having to do with vampires. [A beat.] Another name for it is 'herb of the cross,' so I guess it's not impossible, especially in other dimensions.

[highlyemotional]

[ herb of the cross, that explains so much, but mostly she just looks charmed that sam is SUCH A NERD OMG. ]

Where were you when I was writing all my papers in high school?

[familybusiness]

[He grins and chuckles, shaking his head.]

On the other side of the Veil, apparently. [Pause] Or a different Veil, since I don't know...how long ago high school was for you.

[highlyemotional]

[ watch her just not answer that not question. ]

A vampire turning into a wolf though, that's something. Especially since werewolf bites are fatal to vampires. [ a beat. ] Where I'm from.

[ her nose wrinkles and she looks up at sam with surprising openness. ] Does it ever get easier? Having everything you know be wrong?

[familybusiness]

[He just smiles.]

Yeah, that's not a thing here either. They're actually immune to lycanthropy.

[His expression softens a bit, and he nods.]

Yeah, but it can be a little slow. I find things that are different all the time, but you just...get used to it. We've actually got it pretty easy. At least our tech is in the same decade. Some of the people come through and have never seen a car before. Not that it's not hard, because it is no matter who you are, but it could be worse.

[She does not seem like someone who came through the Veil from a place in the middle ages, so he just assumes.]

[highlyemotional]

[ she looks deeply saddened for people without iphones for a moment, nodding to acknowledge that she heard him even if he doesn't answer right away.

eventually, her thoughts get the better over her and she stands up, pacing a bit before she stops by sam, leaning against the desk with her arms crossed in front of her. ]

I really like being in control. I need control. I hate not knowing. [ the topic isn't important, if caroline is interested in something, she wants to know everything about it. like stefan on the first day of school. she needed to be good at being a vampire because she sucks at everything else. having to relearn what she is makes her feel awful. ]

[familybusiness]

Yeah. I did, too.

[He can be a control freak sometimes, too. And he hates when other people try to control him. Not to mention his entirely life recently has been about gaining control over some other aspects of his reality. But he can't...really talk about that too much.]

That's why I spent so much time in the library. I felt like I had really lost something, you know? And that I had to do whatever I could to get it back. [He looks at her sympathetically.] And I'll do whatever I can to help, alright?

[highlyemotional]

[ he default is to turn boys into conquests, but she refrains for once and doesn't turn the moment into a way to get in sam's pants. it's either progress or she just feels that shitty. ]

Hold that thought. [ after a moment of concentration, staring at his throat, creepy veins start blackening her eyes, turning the soft green blue to soot as her fangs descend. she takes a step away from sam to make sure she keeps her considerable control (will save nat 20 haha canon) and shakes her head, the black fading back into green, fangs disappearing. ]

[familybusiness]

[oh, well, shit, that was unexpected.

To his credit, he got a 30 on his will save, so he doesn't look particularly freaked out. He does take another step back, reaching for a weapon that probably...isn't actually there, one hand up with his palm out just in case she actually tries anything.

But then she's shaking her head, and it becomes clear pretty quickly that she really was just giving him a demonstration to clarify things for him.]

You could have just told me, you know.

[No judgement. No anger. Sam Winchester has come a long way since his hunter days, okay.]

[highlyemotional]

[ he's not running away. he's not yelling at her. he's not shoving her out of the room. he's just standing there. granted, his step back and outstretched hand isn't super but she didn't give him any warning. this isn't a particularly bad reaction, to tell the truth.

no one is crying, that's a first. ]

I... most people don't believe me. Does the offer still stand now that you know I'm a monster?

[familybusiness]

[His hand drops and he shakes his head.]

I would have believed you. My brother is dating a dhampir and those aren't even supposed to exist.

[He tilts his head at her, eyebrows raised like 'r u kidding rn.']

Unless you're leaving in the middle of the night to murder people for your midnight snacks, you're not a monster. It's about what you do, not what you are.

[He has a lot of experience with this kind of thing, okay.]

So yes, of course I will.

[highlyemotional]

I don't kill people! I eat bunnies and bags of blood. I've only ever killed two people, and one was to protect Stefan from... [ her mouth falls open, suddenly taken aback by her inability to remember who the heck it was. ] Someone. The sheriff? I'm not a murderer. The knights found me because I knocked over a blood bank, no murder involved!

[ so in summary, caroline doesn't kill people. in case you missed that. ]

[familybusiness]

Relax. I'm not accusing you of anything. Wynn would not have let you stay if you were heading into the city for murder sprees.

Not to mention my track record isn't super clean, either. No one here is gonna judge you for doing what you needed to do to survive, especially not stealing from a blood bank versus the alternative.

[highlyemotional]

Sorry. [ she sounds sheepish of her outburst. ] It's especially judgy at home.

[familybusiness]

Believe me. I get that too.

[It's confession hour, apparently.]

I'm a psion. I'd be considered just as much of a monster back home.

[highlyemotional]

[ misery loves company, son. she moves to flop down on the edge of his bed again, clasping her hands in her lap. ]

Can you set stuff on fire and give vampires aneurysms? [ it's instinct to apply mystic falls logic to everything and when that inevitably fails she starts from the bottom. maybe psions are like witches? ]

[familybusiness]

[He sits down in the chair at his desk after turning it around to face her.]

Yes and...sort of? It's more of an anyone thing, not just vampires.

[He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. This is clearly a rough topic for him.]

[highlyemotional]

My friend Bonnie, she's a witch, her trick mostly worked on vampires. Actually it was all witches really. [ she makes a thoughtful face, but shakes her head. doesn't matter! ] So what else can you do? I don't really know much about psions.

[ she seems genuinely curious, wide eyes guileless and warm. ]

[familybusiness]

[The expression on her face relaxes him significantly, his own eyes lighting up a bit, because he's...actually pretty excited about his own abilities. This is still new for him, ok.

He looks over at the stack of books, making a small gesture with his fingers before the top book on the stack lifts up into the air on its own. He makes another few gentle motions with his hands, guiding the book as it floats through the air, heading over to her before stopping and hovering just above her lap.]

Catch.

[highlyemotional]

[ she can't stop the little noise of surprise, nor can she stop the smile that spreads across her face as she holds her hands out so he can let the book drop into them. ]

You're like a comic book superhero!

[familybusiness]

[He does drop it the last inch or two into her hand, and it's pretty easy to tell that he's trying really hard not to grin like a total idiot as he sheepishly rubs the back of his neck.]

I don't know about that.

[highlyemotional]

[ she points the book at him like excuse you, i'm the one that gets to label people superheroes, not you. ]

What else can you do?