entrancelogs | + FOURTH WALL EVENT: FOREST PARTY +

Entry tags:

+ FOURTH WALL EVENT: FOREST PARTY +

Who: E V E R Y O N E
Where: The Forest!
When: Sept 7th to Sept 10th
Rating: G to PG-13 (please label higher ratings, thank you!)
Summary: Could it be that you (GASP!) don't want to be here? Do you maybe want to make like a tree and... leaf? Then how about you do the next best thing, and come to the woods to party! And don't forget to have a look at the Fourth Wall Master Post for event rules, puzzle clues, and more places to mingle!
The Story:

Beginning on September 7th, colourful ribbons will hang from several trees by the forest. Whoever follows their path will be guided deeper, right to the scene of a forest party.

Wooden benches, swings in all shapes and sizes, tree trunks, and other arrangements give plenty of opportunities to sit together. Tree houses and tents provide shelter, and come nightfall the festivities will light up for you.

Campfires provide additional light and warmth and a great place for ghost stories. Camping coolers store more than smores, and all around you nature twists and turns to give you room to dance to the music, to wander in the quiet, and to simply have a good time!

(...Are you the curiously perceptive, or the perceptively curious sort? If so, then you might also notice the small bird sitting on a branch nearby.)

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I didn't say that...

[He groans, but with absolutely none of his usual exasperation or irritation. Stefan's finding it impossible to even feign his usual mood with Katherine, and part of him wonders if it's weird. It's weird, right?

Except it feels so familiar and right, like the final gears are clicking into place. He should've probably pulled back by now. He doesn't, and he's not sure what that says about him.]

Not even a little terrible? I can't go all soft on Bambi and Thumper now.

I don't think you ever were.

[ it means, to katherine, that stefan's capable of forgiveness — or forgetting. she leans more heavily on the latter than the former (there's nothing to forgive when it comes to katherine pierce, of course). ]

[ it's comfortable, the way things are. katherine hasn't quite remembered where she is, what time she happens to be dancing in, or the person whom stefan has become with his sharp edges and need to push her away. he's keeping her close, and later katherine won't quite understand why, either. ]

[ she amends after a moment: ] Soft. [ she may smile, but her words feel weighted with genuineness. ] You definitely had your weaknesses — I'll be sure to let Bambi and Thumper know they've lost you as their personal guard — but you're not soft, Stefan. Not by any means.

I don't know, I sure feel soft.

[Maybe it's all the tea he's had this week, or maybe it's the betrayal of Damon & Elena on the dance floor, or maybe it's the hell that has been Wonderland, but Stefan... doesn't feel like withholding anything anymore.]

I used to think that Damon and I were stronger than any girl who dared to get between us, but after you and Elena... [He sighs, squeezing her hand tightly. He shouldn't be confessing this to the one who started this whole sorry mess. He shouldn't even be here. And yet, he's going for the truth:] I'm a lot less certain of that.

[ that's surprising. ]

[ katherine doesn't pretend his confession is anything but that. a part of her knows if she reacts as naturally as possible, he may feel more comfortable to talk some more. the other part of her doesn't wish to hear it — she doesn't want to hear him moan of damon and elena, of how he's heartbroken, feeling left out, blah, blah, blah. pennsylvania had given her enough distance to acknowledge she wasn't interested in such politics, even if it was oftentimes fun to test and see if the salvatores really did love their beloved elena enough to tell her and katherine apart. (according to the tests, they didn't.) ]

[ her brows furrow together slightly, and she looks at him with slight concern, an expression that fits more on elena's face than her own. but it had originated on hers long before elena had ever looked upon someone with slight worry. it's an old mask that fits almost as snug as it once had, if only a little out of shape. ]

It's the Petrova fire. [ her accent is thick then. it's an easy answer, and it's supposed to be its own explanation. she lifts a shoulder to emphasise that. it stems from her mother, and that's all katherine wishes to think or say of it. ]

[ she looks up at him, and leaves her expression slightly open. ] Do you want to know something, Stefan? [ she thinks to give him a chance to reply, but she knows there's a good chance he'll stop her. katherine doesn't wish to be stopped. ] I loved you both, for different reasons. And I was selfish, and I got caught up in the power of being wanted for being who I was for once. But I never wanted you to be as alone as I felt.

[ katherine doesn't realise she's stopped moving. ]

[He freezes mid-step, mirroring that concern back at her.

Her explanation is all he needs to hear, because in the distant corners of his mind, he'd known that had always been the answer. Tatia had played games with two of the Mikaelsons; Katherine had played games with him and Damon; and now Elena was continuing it, with the exact same steps and rhythm as the Petrova before her.

Stefan's heart aches at the realization. He's not as old and wise as he likes to think, if he's revisiting these same steps and patterns. He should've listened to Alesci, but what did Alesci know? His heartbreaks were on the smaller end of the scale.]

"Alone's" putting it nicely. [He can't rely on Damon, he can't rely on Elena, and he sure as hell can't rely on Katherine or Rebekah. This is worse than the Fleet: it's every nightmare smashed up into a blender and unleashed into the waking world.] All I know is, I'm tired of feeling like I am.

[Salvatore's urging him to just make a move already, but - but faith. He has more faith (and more importantly, more willpower) to hold on and not succumb to his urges. He takes a breath, forcing himself to stay still.]

If Wonderland's supposed to be a dream, I sure hope we'll wake up soon.

Edited 2016-10-25 06:02 (UTC)

[ katherine tilts her head, studying him with slightly narrowed eyes. stefan's a different person to whom she had known as a young man and as an angry and volatile vampire, but he's still himself deep down. she thinks she can see it. ]

[ he still doesn't know who he is. once, she would've tried to show him. ]

[ her gaze isn't unkind. she's trying to figure him out, what's missing, what's new. his trip in space has changed him, made him slightly calmer, if more tired and resigned. she misses the fire that had resided within him. hate come to burn behind his eyes, but it hadn't been there all the time. ] And where will you wake up? In a better place? Or a nightmare?

[ it's the latter for katherine. it's taken her a long time to acknowledge the life she's tried to shape for herself with little to no attention is a nightmare more than it is any sort of daydream she used to preoccupy herself with as a young girl. she's alone — friendless, with no family, with nothing but her ambitions and the skeletons littered in her wake. it isn't the life katerina petrova had hoped for. ]

We're already in one.

[His laugh is bitter, more resigned. It doesn't suit Stefan, either - but when Wonderland's pulled him from people he genuinely loved (and who genuinely loved him back), he can't help poking at the ashes that had remained.

He had once wondered who he was in relation to his brother, to Elena, to Katherine. Now that he knows, he's not sure that he should've asked that question to begin with.

But weirdly enough, the truth's also setting him free, and Stefan's finding it easier to breathe with each syllable. He feels alone (even if he isn't), and right now? It's equally easier to focus on pulling Katherine out of hers too.]

But if I had to pick, do you... remember that old Disney movie? About the sleeping princess? [His cheeks turn a faint red.] I'd like to be back there.

Sleeping Beauty, Stefan. [ she sounds amused when she names it. ] Or Snow White? Many of the princesses fall asleep. Must be because their princes are such a bore.

[ and it's always fun to let men play up to the roles the patriarchal society they live in has defined for them. they're the hero, while the women are the damsels; katherine's gone to hell and back to ensure she's her own prince. ]

[ despite her own need to make a quip — or let the conversation lighten a little in the tension that seems to have woven itself into it — she has to wonder for his reasoning. stefan has always thought himself to be a hero, just as damon had back when she had known them best, but she wonders if he understands he can save himself. ]

[ if there's any lesson he should learn from her, it's that. ]

[ she looks at him with an expression that's more kind. ] Why there? It's not the most exciting of fairytales.

[What? How is Sleeping Beauty a boring fairy tale?

Maybe it's because Stefan's seen the movie more than a dozen times (thanks to his baby sister), or maybe it's because he feels like Prince Phillip, dancing alongside Briar Rose once upon a dream - but he looks almost offended.]

You're kidding me, right? You've got fairies, a giant fire-breathing dragon, and a prince who'll shrug it all off for the woman he loves.

[Because in fairy tales, nothing - absolutely nothing - beats true love's kiss.

Olette had compared him to Phillip one too many times, except now, he's starting to wonder if she'd been right. Phillip would've gone to the ends of the Earth for Elena - just as he had, both for Katherine and Elena. His expression softens as he looks back at her.]

What story would you wanna be in, then?

[ she almost reminds him the princess is asleep for a good portion of the adventure — and requires a man to save her. katerina would've loved such a tale, but katerina had loved love wholeheartedly, and had believed in it for all of its purity. katherine's learned that love is quite possibly the ugliest thing of all. ]

[ she opts to not engage in much of an argument with him. he sees it in a different way, inviting her into a perspective she thinks she's always known him to have, but has wondered over the last few decades if that adventurous spirit of his has puttered out. becoming boring and almost predictable in his life, stefan still yearns for adventure, and she's quietly glad to see it woven within his answer. ]

[ katherine thinks she gave it to him once, but she suspects he'd believe her to be the equivalent to the fire-breathing dragon than the fun companion who'd joined him on such a journey. ]

[ giving it a moment's thought, katherine looks up at him with her neck arched, and seems quite content with her own answer. ] Mulan.

Ah, so you wanna be the Great Dragon.

[He seems almost pleased by the answer, leaning in and resting his forehead by hers. Stefan's a total sucker for a good fairy tale. Even if it's a little less orthodox than what he'd been thinking.

She would be hailed by Bulgaria as a hero; she would save her family and her country from the enemy; and she - she would find someone that told her she fought good. Stefan can't even try to hide his amusement. He only hopes he's more eloquent than the captain.]

I've seen you fight, I think you could take on a whole army if you wanted to.

[... yeah, he's legitimately going for that analogy. Sorry, Katherine: this Stefan's a bonafide #nerd.]

[ one way to unsettle katherine is to have stefan behave so warm and kind toward her. she knows she'd asked for it — for them to almost be anonymous, to simply be a boy and a girl, and not a man and a woman with so much history behind them it sometimes appears as soft as feathers when oftentimes it's as sharp and heavy as shackles around their wrists and ankles. ]

[ it only takes her out of the moment for a second before she settles. katherine is allowed to enjoy this one evening. it's what she tells herself. wonderland will take it from her shortly, as life often feels compelled to do. stefan's giving her what she wants, and she would be an idiot not to take it when he offers it freely to her for once. ]

You think so? [ she lets herself smile, much like the young girl she was around him in 1864. sometimes she forgets how stefan can make her feel as though she can float on air and take on great dragons of lore. keeping her forehead resting against his, she lets her arms wrap properly around his neck. it's more comfortable, not purposefully keeping distance between them. ] Did you know Mushu is a big fan of Sleeping Beauty? It seems almost like it was written in the stars.

[This feels easy, comfortable - maybe even a little too comfortable.

But he had meant every word: for just one night, they would be a boy and a girl dancing under the stars. They would have a blank slate, and that blank slate was begging to be filled with stories. They weren't reinventing a story, just revising one.]

Then maybe we should listen to those stars more often.

[He lets out a small noise of contentment as he closes his eyes. Not a bad way to end a dance, if he says so himself.]

Between you and me, they also said that what happens here stays here.

[ that sounds like the beginning of a love story, stefan. ]

[ once upon a time she would've allowed herself to indulge completely in a moment like this. having stefan here, forgetting everything that's ever happened — the horrible actions that have kept them apart that will always keep them apart — should be easy to fall into, but katherine's never allowed herself to relax that much. there's always someone to run from. ]

[ there currently is someone to run from. ]

[ but she lets herself enjoy this, even if she doesn't let herself dive headfirst into it. she'd done that once, and it'd ended tragically for the both of them. ]

[ rather than close her eyes, she keeps them open. if she won't let herself fold into this, she's allowing herself to at least be able to remember it as vividly as she's capable much later. she smiles, and laughs lightly, her voice warm, ] That's Las Vegas, Stefan. Not Wonderland. You've been in space for too long if you don't remember at least that cliched line.

[ it may sound like the beginning of a love story, but katherine knows this has to be the end of one. ]

[It can't end here.

He lazily opens one eye at her, with an expression of amused judgment (if that's even possible).] I don't know, Wonderland feels pretty Vegas-y.

[He's teasing, of course, but he doesn't want to let go or act as they always had. There's been more than enough misery in his stars, and for once, he can't control how they align.

Maybe this is punishment for a life he had left behind, or maybe it's a reminder that he can't escape his past. Whatever it is, he's tired, and he wants just one night to end on a better note. So he decides to just go for it and kiss her on the cheek. It lacks his usual passion, but there's warmth and affection where there shouldn't be any.

Worst part is, he doesn't even have the decency to look embarrassed.]

Tomorrow, we can go back to what we used to be, but I figured... we're a boy and a girl under the stars, and you deserved this much.

Edited 2016-11-08 07:36 (UTC)

[ where stefan fails to look embarrassed, katherine appears taken aback. they don't fit the roles they've carved for themselves — stefan perpetually angry at her, and katherine always smug. she's finally the cat that caught the canary, but she knew long before she set out on this venture into the woods and this particular party that she was going to let him go. ]

I deserved this much. [ she repeats, more quietly than she otherwise would. he makes her feel as though she's katerina again — taken aback when the boy she fantasises marrying actually wants to court her, despite all odds being against them — and she forgets that she's ever been katherine. ]

Don't lie, Stefan. You did this for yourself, too.

[ she doesn't know what stefan deserves, but she supposes it's something nice. katherine's capable of love — perhaps this is the only way he'll ever let himself actually acknowledge it: in a world that's unknown to their own, where he can be nameless and she can finally shed herself of all her walls and all that combined baggage they lug around. ]

[He would shrug, like the content little idiot he is, but Katherine's got his number.

Prior to Wonderland, prior to dancing under the lights and tangled branches, he wouldn't have given her the time of day. He also wouldn't have believed that Mystic Falls was still standing, and he definitely wouldn't have believed how much he could screw up his relationship with so many people.

Stefan's tired of breaking bonds, and so - when he pretends that he's left his luggage at the door - he can see the love that Katherine's always had for him.

He settles on,] I did this for the both of us. No harm in that, right?

[ this is why stefan salvatore is incredibly stupid. he doesn't think there's any harm in letting his own walls down, in being kinder, or even dancing under the stars. that footprint he doesn't believe he's leaving is gigantic in size, deep in how the heel of his foot presses down into the ground. there's no harm in it for someone who may find he's sucked back up the rabbit hole by a spaceship, but it is for the person he's leaving behind. ]

[ rather than lecture him and remind him that he's not dancing with anyone he's ever expressed he likes, she rolls her eyes instead. katherine may sometimes purposefully ruin moments to see how far she can push someone, but she doesn't want to wreck this. ]

[ this is for her. katherine's allowed to keep this, and no one will ever take it away from her. she's learned what that hollowness feels like. ]

Is there any harm in one last dip?

For you? Never.

[His naivety - or is it sheer willpower? - could power an entire universe, and at this point, he knows she deserves these memories. Wonderland steals and steals and steals, and it's only fair to give a little something while he can.

With grace, and a warning:] Ready?

[He'll slide his hand along her upper back again and carefully lower her backward, bringing one foot forward so he can keep his balance - and he maintains that dip just a little longer too, before it all comes to an end.

He'll even bow, like he had once been taught. Some habits die hard.]

[ once upon a time, she would've used this as a tactic to overpower him. she would've used it to manipulate him, to show him he still cared. she would've been able to get into his head without needing to literally crawl inside of it as he slept to ensure he never quite forgot how he felt in this moment. ]

[ but all katherine can do is relax and laugh. and when it's over — a little too quick for her tastes, as katherine's never quite felt as carefree, never allowing herself to let those walls come crumbling down — she becomes the lady he'd known before his life had truly begun. ]

[ she stands, trying not to outright laugh again, and gives him as much of a curtsy as she can in her pants: tugging at the hem of her top and crossing her leg behind the other. ]

I'm glad you remember how to dance. You were always good at it.

If I remember right, I had a pretty good teacher.

[It's a boldfaced lie: Salvatore would have learned with other upstanding members of society, and he would've learned with mock dinners and patient teachers who didn't mind if he stepped on their shoes.

He would've practiced that choreography over and over again - and all of that practice shows in his ease and comfort. His eyes are twinkling as he stuffs his hands in his pockets.]

Thanks for leaving your dance card open.

[ katherine sees through it: she was never his dance teacher. she recalls his movements easily, the slight grace of his step with how he bowed to the rules of dance and the uncertainty he felt around a girl he liked. she remembers it all so vividly, finding those days spent with the salvatores had been some of the best of her life before it had all gone sour. ]

It was always open, Stefan. [ her tone is a lot softer than she'd like. ] All you had to do was ask. [ she tilts her head to the side, lips curving upward in amusement. ] Or say yes when I did.

[ but stefan will never ask katherine to dance, and she'll only ever get one if she goads him into it with a threat. the masquerade at the lockwood mansion could've been less tense, but the stakes had been too high and katherine had been intent to mix business with pleasure. ]

[ now, she's okay with how it is. light, easy, almost dreamlike. she lets him have this belief, that he's somehow complimented her when she knows everything about him. ]

Come on. You owe me a burnt s'more for making me beg you to dance with me. [ she holds her hand out, expression almost the same as it had been years ago — expecting, but kinder in the way she studies him. ]

["You know I can't do that."

His expression hardens, because he remembers that Masquerade. He remembers it in full detail when everything else had been far more faded and opaque - and he can't repeat his missteps.

For now, they're Katherine and Stefan, rather than scorned lovers or immortal vampires, and their dance cards are perpetually open for each other.

That unease gives way towards the comfort of their dream-like state, and the temporary promises to forget the past, as he glances down at her.]

Of course. With or without extra chocolate?

[Just like that, with zero expectations and promises, he accepts her hand and gently intertwines his fingers in hers. S'mores or no, he's glad he caved into temptation.]

Edited 2016-12-07 01:07 (UTC)

[ if stefan thinks she hadn't seen how his expression shifted, he's sorely mistaken. though she's made it clear everything is almost always about stefan salvatore, katherine pierce has always been observant. watching people has always been one of her many talents, crafting them stories as she sat with her friends back when she had been katerina, a simple girl with simple wishes. ]

[ she doesn't so much as say anything. she files it away, as she's prone to do, but katherine doesn't think of it as any sort of ammunition. she can be a woman who isn't a monster, even though she'll always believe she's one. ]

[ her expression doesn't shift to let him know she's seen his own uneasiness. still smiling, she appears just as youthful and human-like as she had back in 1864. ]

Surprise me.

[He raises an eyebrow in amusement.]

That's a dangerous proposition.

["Dangerous" only because Stefan knows his way around a campfire, regardless of the universe, and only because he has pleasant memories of roasting marshmallows over an open flame. Fire doesn't scare him when he's befriended people capable of holding them in the palm of their hands.

He's got carte blanche to go all gourmand on her - or, more likely, he'll go back to basics as he leads her back towards that open, crackling fire and holds out a marshmallow stick.

Then again, they'd been "going back to basics" all along, hadn't they?]

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+ FOURTH WALL EVENT: FOREST PARTY +

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