[open] a little taste of hypocrisy and i'm left in the wake of my mistake

[persevere]

Who: Caroline Forbes + OTA + Closed Starters
Where: Everywhere
When: August + September
Rating: PG-13, anything higher will be marked
Summary: Caroline has a lot to make up for, but she'll do the best she can.
The Story:

Comments

[persevere]

She wasn't the only one.

[Beat over the head by her best friend and boyfriend...or whatever he was now. It was complicated. So were the forms of beating, but that was neither here nor there.

It had worked and no one died. That's what mattered.]

I know you don't have any really good reason to give me a chance. You were, like, super nice to me and I took advantage of that, and I know what that feels like. It sucks.

[Then there are the magic words, an invitation, and she breathes out a sigh, managing a smile, peering further into the apartment as she takes a single step over the threshold, just in time to come face to face with the guy who brought a literal storm on top of their heads.

She tenses slightly, if only because it hurt. She can heal, but everything still feels the same. She holds up her hands, palms out, in a symbol of surrender.]

No need to burn the floors on my account. The worst of those flaws are thoroughly stamped out, I promise.

[nomorules]

<sub>[She wasn't the only one. Implying there are others here who'd given her crap, tried to shake some sense (and conscience) back into her. To his ears, the remark sounds a little rueful leaving her mouth, but it confirms a new detail: that there are people who care for her. And if they care, there must be something to care about.

He can't help it; a weak laugh climbs his throat, escaping on the back of a dry, exhaled breath.]</sub>

"It sucks." Shit, was that a vampire joke?

<sub>[Oh my god, he just got punned by an honest to god vampire that honest to god sucked his blood, what is life coming to? Akira picks that moment to answer his call and Ryuji shoots a brief glare his way--who are you talking about, man?--a look that fades with the comprehension lighting up the other boy's eyes and simultaneously hardening his features.

Moments when Ryuji's an observer to a confrontation rather than in one are rarer than a red diamond, but as Akira steps over to face down Caroline, Ryuji shifts the apology fruit and his weight along with it. Slight, nothing obvious about it, but a visible gearing down into a more relaxed stance. An it's okay sent Akira's way in the lack of combativeness. He probably speaks for all of them when he thinks they've had their fill of fighting.]</sub>

She came to talk to us. I think we should hear her out.

_{[They're in the business of second chances, aren't they?]}