entrancelogs | ( open | everyone knows i'm in over my head )

Entry tags:

( open | everyone knows i'm in over my head )

Who: Caroline Forbes and you!
Where: Gardens.
When: March 18, all throughout the day.
Rating: G.
Summary: Caroline makes her grand return from bunny hunting (and being missing for five weeks) to participate in a grand investigation: Who plucks the produce from the garden plots? ( feel free to action spam or prose me. )
The Story:

Caroline hasn't been spending the past month crouched behind a bush — despite how she's spending her last ten minutes now. She's spent it within the forest, stalking rabbits, following them as they hop their way from the mansion and further into the darkness. She'd become caught up in the hunt, following some, apologising to others for having to rip their fur apart and drain them dry, and hadn't realised, nor sensed, that she had missed not simply hours, but weeks.

Returning from the forest now, less hungry than how she had entered it, she crouches behind a hedge near the fountain. Her eyes are trained hard and unblinkingly on a bare garden plot. She remembers, even if it was a memory of a month ago, the plot had born produce — something red, if her memory serves her well — and now, as she returns from the forest and her unsuccessful attempts at bunny stalking (but quite the opposite for when it comes to her meals), she finds herself quite curious. It's only been a few minutes, she thinks, or perhaps half an hour — she hadn't seen nor heard of anyone coming by and plucking what she had seen growing away.

Bending lower, she tries to hide herself completely, hearing footsteps pressing softly on the grass. Counting to ten, she holds her breath before leaping out from behind the bush. In a blur, she tackles the keeper of the garden plots — or does she?

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[ Visit the gardens, he thought. It'd be fun, he thought.

Okay, fun, maybe not. But Scott had been acting really, really weird last night with the full moon, and Stiles wanted to be as sure as possible that he didn't go all werewolf axe crazy on anyone, just in case. There were a whole host of things to think about involving that (what happened to his anchor?) but Stiles is trying resolutely to ignore them.

But trapping a werewolf requires mountain ash, which requires rowan trees, which are ringing the garden near the forest. So he's strolling through the garden, minding his own business and looking for the various werewolf-deterrents of the world when something comes flying out of the bushes.

Stiles barely has time to shriek out-- ] Ohmygod! [ before he's literally knocked flat on his back. Completely winded, his eyes go huge and he tries to reorient himself because his assailant is not actually an assailant but-- ] Caroline?!

[ what the fuck ]

[ with her sense of heightened smell, caroline should've been able to figure out that gardeners don't smell as nice as stiles. for one, they stink. ] Oh my god! [ with one hand, she comes to push her hair behind her ear. ] Stiles!? [ yes, definitely not a gardener. unless he's taken it as a hobby? but caroline doubts it very much — not because he doesn't look like he wouldn't know how to care for plants, but because he has other things to do, like make zombie contingency plans. ]

[ caroline lingers on top of him for only a few moments before she realises that she had tackled stiles and he's flat on his back, possibly hurt. she tackles like a quarterback — something coach might be proud of. ] I'm sorry! I thought you were — There's these gardeners — [ she pulls herself up. she doesn't move to brush the grass off her legs, but bends and extends a hand to him. she hopes she takes it; she's so worried she's broken him that he'll never be able to walk again and he'll hate her for the rest of their wonderland lives. ]

[ Stiles coughs once, because god damn Caroline can tackle, and he manages a-- ] Have you ever considered trying out for lacrosse?

[ but clears the cough from his throat more or less, and tries to will down the automatic "beautiful girl on top of me" blush that spreads across his cheeks, trying to give her a half cocked grin but mostly coming off as a little frazzled, and maybe a little relieved. he does take her hand and pulls himself at least to a sitting position, blinking a couple times to try and come back to earth.

because ow. again. girl can tackle. ] Dude, yeah, totally, I've always mistaken people for satanic gardeners in the past. [ now his grin is a little more confident, and stiles brushes himself off as he lets her pull him up to his feet. ] Where did you go?

[ caroline winces. stiles doesn't sound all right — she really hopes she didn't tackle him too hard. if one of his bones was broken … god, she'd never forgive herself for hurting one of her friends. and all over some stupid gardener! ]

[ but she mulls over his words, frowning as she does so. she smiles, though. ] For a walk. [ she lets go of his hand, crossing hers against her chest, and genuinely asks: ] Why? Did I miss a lacrosse try-out?

[ caroline has never seen a lacrosse game in her life. it's always football this and football that. but she does sound disappointed at the notion of missing out on something stiles obviously thinks she'd be good at. although, maybe she should tone it down if there really is a team … ]

[ he better laugh or else she's going to feel so bad. (and even if he does, she's still going to feel so, so terrible. ]

[ thumping himself in the chest, stiles offers her a crooked grin, shoving his hands in his pockets. luckily, he's taken tackles from scott (and from jackson) and being friends with werewolves means you're at least a little used to being roughed up supernaturally.

not that stiles knows caroline is anything remotely supernatural. he just thinks she's kind of a badass. ] Nah, not yet. I mean, let's put it like this: you're a better tackle than I am, and I'm actually on a lacrosse team. [ a beat. ] I mean, I never play, but you know. But if we ever have a team here, dude, I am so calling dibs on you.

[ his smile's all friendly, with a touch of concern, and his brow furrows. ] That was a really, really long walk. You still--I mean, you know me, so you still remember everything about Wonderland, right?

[ caroline smiles, quite pleased. she's moved on from the phase of being in elena's shadow and loathing it — elena's the one everyone wants, from boys to supernatural creatures to probably lacrosse teams … she finds herself beaming. she wants to ask stiles why he's not on his lacrosse team, nor plays, because if he's on the team then he should so play! but, he's said something important, and maybe caroline should take note of that. ]

I do? I mean, I was only there for like … [ caroline narrows her eyes and thinks. well, she didn't particularly look at the clock when she left her room that morning … but lena isn't the only one to have noticed she was gone. if stiles is implying what caroline thinks he's implying, then she really must've been plucked out of normal wonderland and thrown into some creepy, timeless mirror of it. ] Maybe an hour or so? For me, anyway. Apparently I've been, like, completely taken out of time. I kind of got caught up … [ chasing her food. ] Took a wrong turn.

You took like an entire extra trip to China, dude. [ not that he should really call caroline dude, but here he is, with all of his teenage boy charm. caroline is so cute, she really is, and she grins at him and stiles can't help but grin back, completely oblivious to her inner struggle versus elena, because her happiness is pretty much infectious. ]

I'm really glad you're back--it's seriously awesome to see you again. Do you need a guard to keep you from ending up "taking a wrong turn" again, milady? [ a little bit of candid honesty, and he even gallantly offers his crooked arm. what a frickin dork. ]

[ caroline feels herself turning pink as she smiles, ducking her head just a little. it reminds her of matt, when things had been so much simpler between them — she, human, and him completely and utterly in like with her. she finds herself feeling a lot like that human girl, who had been oblivious and naive and so utterly stupid, but she'd been happy, despite all the negatives caroline remembers when she looks back. stiles happens to be one of the few who make her feel like that girl again, like she's completely untouchable from all the bad things that lurk in the dark and want to consume her whole. ]

[ it's kind of nice to have a friend who isn't afraid to be totally geeky. he kind of reminds her of stefan when he lets his guard down, but shorter, of course. and less broody. she doubts stiles has a tuesday look. ]

I think I might, milord. [ she hooks her arm with his. ] I feel really bad for not bringing back any souvenirs. Do you still want to guard me even though my hands are super empty?

Lena was undecided about the lawns and gardens outside the mansion. Back home, she'd spent time in the overgrown garden next door to her uncle's plantation house, hidden by the lemon trees and rosemary bushes. But here there was nothing overgrown for her to disappear into with her notebook and write away the hours. Not unless she felt like getting lost in the hedge maze, and that was a definite no.

But she sometimes wandered out past the vendors to look at the well tended gardens and today was one of those days. She wanted to check out the roses to see if they were white or red, and if the latter, if they were painted red. But she didn't make it out that far, because she was tackled and fell to the ground, screaming. Lightning cut across the otherwise blue sky --a physically manifestation of her fright-- and she continued screaming, hands flapping wildly to try and beat her attacker away while her brain tried to focus on a useful Cast to throw at them.

Caroline should've learnt by now that the gardeners would be a no show. But Caroline Forbes was not someone who simply accepted no for an answer. The garden plots were well-kept and cut, and she wanted to know who was the one doing the cutting. She'd only seen a few characters from Wonderland make appearances, but she wanted to know more.

In hindsight, Caroline thought she should've accepted that no for an answer.

The lightning frightened her. Gardeners didn't move so violently when attacked, nor did they cause the sky to crack in anger. It wasn't difficult for her to see that it was Lena she had managed to tackle (she could smell her perfume, could hear her heartbeat skip and pump in a panic) — and possibly break, as well as scare the living daylights out of. "Lena," she said, pulling herself off of her friend. She hovered over her, one knee between her legs and the other on the outside. She tried to grab her hands, but she wasn't sure if it would cause her more fright. "Lena!"

Despite her goal of making as much noise as possible, Lena heard her name and stilled her hands, looking up into Caroline's face. Her eyes widened in surprise. But Caroline was gone. She'd gotten out of there. What was she doing here and why was she attacking her? Was this an event? Get Attacked By Your Friends Day?

"Caroline?" she asked cautiously, followed quickly by, "You left." There was mild accusation in her tone, as if Caroline chose to waltz out of Wonderland one day. But she was a person who Lena maybe-kinda-sorta-perhaps considered her best friend here. Maybe. She was cautious about labeling it as such, because then crap like this would happen, where said maybe best friend disappeared on her.

"You didn't answer when I called. Where were you?" The wind picked up around them, rustling through her dark locks. It wasn't a full-blown Lena-grade temper tantrum, but it was definitely a sign of her irritation.

Caroline glanced around. The wind felt familiar — Bonnie was capable of brewing up a storm just like Lena was. It made her heart quicken in her chest, almost making her feel as though she were human again: afraid of thunderstorms, of things that could pose a threat to her life. But she doubted Lena knew how to put a vampire down like Bonnie did, and for that, she was grateful. She could see the anger in her eyes and thought herself deserving of a vampire aneurism for putting it there.

"I was in the woods," she said, frowning. Tilting her head, her brows creased with more confusion. "You called me? I would've answered!" She leaned back, forgetting momentarily that she was on top of Lena, and dug through her jacket pocket for her communicator. She found her pocket empty. Her mouth formed an O as she glanced off to the side before her gaze returned to Lena.

"I may have forgotten my phone?" But Caroline was missing one single fact. Lena had said she had left. Leaving implied she was gone.

"You were in the woods for a month?" Lena asked with a healthy dose of sarcasm. How could she not realize that? Lena knew she was a vampire and could probably go awhile without eating, but how could she not notice the passage of time? The sun had to rise and set in the woods too, didn't it?

"No one has seen you. I asked around."

"It was an hour!" Maybe two. Caroline hadn't taken note of the time she had left her room, but it was early in the morning, quiet and warm. The kind of time a vampire would want to leave their cave and snap a few bunnies in half. "I swear. Cross my heart and hope to — Okay, that's probably not a good oath to make. But, I'm serious, I went out to go …" Caroline paused, pressing her lips together. Lena knew she was a vampire, but Caroline didn't particularly want to share the gory details of being one to her. "I needed to go eat. So I … went for a walk in the woods." And harmed a few Thumpers. She did say sorry before she attacked them.

"I don't understand how — I've been here." Caroline's hand swept through her hair. "How have I lost a month?"

Lena finally pushed herself up on her hands, giving Caroline a look that said "getting up off me any time soon?" Part of her wanted to try and wrestle Caroline to the ground because she'd really, really missed her and here her friend thought she'd only been gone an hour. But she held in the urge. Caroline would win a wrestling match based on pure strength and Lena would have to magical cheat to get anywhere.

"It's Wonderland," she stated simply, as if the answer was clear as day.

It was clear as day that Lena was mad at her. Furious, even. Caroline was used to being on the receiving end of such fiery looks — she'd seen it from Bonnie, for days after her transition, that anger projected onto her for something Caroline had no say in. She had never asked to become a player in the war of the Salvatores and Katherine Pierce, and yet, she became a pawn, used against them in a bid to tip the scales. Elena had given her such looks before, even Damon, which was expected, and sometimes, rarely, Stefan.

Like Stefan's, Lena's anger was something that hurt Caroline more than anyone else's. She wasn't used to it. She didn't expect it. And she didn't quite know what she could say without making the situation worse.

So, for once in her life, Caroline didn't say a word.

Caroline's brows furrowed at Lena's look. She then realised she was still pinning her to the ground. Rolling off of her, she pushed herself to her feet, and held her hand out to Lena. She didn't know if she would take it — Lena seemed pretty angry with her, and from what she was saying, she had good reason to be.

Basically, Lena was just moody. She'd always been that way. Pessimistic most of the time, she tended to snap at those she was closest to even when they were trying to help her. For months before her Claiming, she'd tried to push Ethan away, afraid she would hurt him, annoyed that he couldn't understand, angry at the way the popular kids treated her but taking it out on him instead. After all this time, after over a year together, she still wondered sometimes why he put up with her.

When Caroline offered her hand, Lena took it. There were few whose hand she'd take, worried she'd freak them out by giving them that feeling of static shock. It was hard to know who would be affected and who was immune, so she now treated everyone like they'd feel it. But when it came to Caroline, she wanted to feel her hand, as proof she was real. Which was really dumb, because she'd just been tackled by her. She was obviously real enough.

"You didn't miss much," she stated quietly. "Just one event. Wonderland broke into chunks and was floating up in the air."

Caroline didn't yank Lena up with all the strength she had tackled her with. Instead, it was human, just a simple pull of her arm, allowing Lena to do the work if she wanted to or let Caroline pull her off the floor she'd pushed her on. But she didn't let go of Lena's hand. Maybe, if she stayed close, she wouldn't linger off into another pocket where Wonderland decided to play a trick and throw her out of time.

The shift in Lena's tone wasn't lost on Caroline. She'd done something right. Usually, Caroline made bad situations worse. Raising her eyebrows, she said, with interest, "Were you floating?"

Lena made no effort to let go of Caroline's hand either. She didn't want her heading off to a pocket as much as Caroline didn't want to end up in one.

"The people weren't floating. But all the rooms in the mansion were. You either had to stay put or hop from one chunk to the other."

"What did you do?" As it wasn't something Caroline got to experience herself, she figured there was no harm in having Lena retell it. She had a feeling that she would've tried hopping from one piece of Wonderland to the next — simply because she could.

"I hopped," she said, a smile starting to curved up her lips. Sure, it was pretty dangerous and a long way down, but Lena didn't want to act helpless. She was tired of feeling that way.

Also, she knew a levitating Cast, so there was that.

"Did anyone …" Caroline bit the corner of her lip. Tact was never her strong suit, but, sometimes, she felt that it was necessary to soften the blow of her words. But how was she to ask her question if she didn't simply ask it? "Did anyone die? From the hopping. Or even just the floating … things."

It was a little difficult to picture all the people in Wonderland hopping from one bit to another.

"Not that I heard of," Lena answered. "I didn't see anyone fall, luckily." She assumed they'd come back again, but having that bit of assurance didn't make the death any easier to go through. She knew that firsthand from those freaky zombie dogs in the mines. Caroline did too.

"People offered to get food and supplies to people, since the closets wouldn't give food."

Caroline gasped. "The closets weren't working?" To her, that was the worst thing to possibly happen. She was beginning to take the closets and their magic for granted. If there was anything she couldn't find in the mansion, she knew a quick dip into her closet would solve her problem. To think that they were broken as well made her almost glad she had missed it.

"They are now, right?"

"There usually seems to be something malfunctioning around here, isn't there? But yeah, everything went back to normal."

For Lena, the closets weren't a big deal. She could conjure things on her own, as long as she had her powers. But she tried to put herself in another's shoes, where the closets were miraculous things.

"You know, I thought you went home. Would you have liked going back there?"

Caroline paused. Her grip on Lena's hand slackened. She wanted to go home so desperately. She wanted to see Elena and Bonnie, and see how Matt was doing, and Mom … But the idea of going back to a place where Tyler was most likely dead, where her friends were in danger, and that sickening feeling of lead settled in her stomach on most days wasn't a pleasant thought. She wanted to go home, but, at the same time, she so selfishly wanted to stay in Wonderland where things weren't as bad as they could be. Floating bits of the world? Zombie dogs? They were child's play compared to the things Caroline had to endure.

She took in a deep breath and seemed to hold it, searching for those miraculous words that would say everything she wanted to say but hide everything she didn't want Lena (or herself) to hear. "I don't know," she said, lifting her shoulders in defeat. "I want to go and see my friends and my mom, but …" She pursed her lips, face pinching as she tried to not say what was on the tip of her tongue about Tyler. "Something happened. And I want to know what happened so desperately, but … I kind of want to avoid, you know?"

Her last memory had been of Tyler, screaming of her in the cellar to run while something in him ripped him apart. Killing Klaus had been a mistake. It had rid Mystic Falls of one gigantic villain, but it had taken away something so good and pivotal, too.

Lena released her hand, watching her carefully. It seemed like home wasn't the easy decision it would be for others.

"Yeah, I get it. There's this feeling of dread when you know you're going to be facing something you don't want to face." How many times had she done that just walking into a new school and having to face those people?

Caroline inhaled through to only exhale through her mouth. She felt something in her leave with it. Perhaps her resolve to pretend that not speaking of Tyler being gone wouldn't hurt so much? "It's just …" She glanced to the side, pressing a hand to her temple before letting it drop. "If I go home, there's either good news or bad news waiting for me. And I have a feeling it's going to be really, really bad."

"I'm sorry," Lena replied, genuinely sounding it. "I can see why you wouldn't want to face it if it was the bad option." Burying under the covers and hiding from the inevitable wasn't the best solution, but she could relate.

She shrugged, keeping her gaze downcast. "It's always bad in Mystic Falls. But, like, even when the worst thing comes, nothing like this ever really happens." Except, she found, that Mystic Falls was a graveyard these days. Everyone within it would be alive one day and dead the next. How many more friends and neighbours and classmates would she need to bury before it all came to a stop?

"It's not your fault things suck," she said, glancing up toward Lena with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I guess that's just the hand whoever is in charge felt like dealing my town. All the crazy crap you can think of just …" She exhaled, "Comes here."

"I know, but it's what you say when you sympathize." And Lena truly did. "Every town has secrets. Every place has secrets. They're just less noticeable in big cities." No wonder her cousin Ridley always ran off to New York City when she was in a trouble-causing mood.

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( open | everyone knows i'm in over my head )

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