[OPEN] We'll Take A Cup of Kindness Yet

[nascensibility]

Who: EVERYONE, but especially you!
Where: Wonderland Ballroom
When: New Year's Eve
Rating: PG - PG13 (will change if applicable)
Summary: New Year's Eve Party
The Story:

[The morning of December 31st, all residents will receive a handwritten invitation slipped under their door.]



You are cordially invited to attend a party
celebrating the New Year

Wonderland Ballroom
8 pm - 1 am

Semi-Formal Attire
Buffet & Bar
No RSVP Required

All Ages Welcome

For inquiries, contact E. O'Connell

[Punctuality in planning is important: the ballroom itself will only be ready for guests at exactly 8 o'clock, bedecked in glittering golds and the red-green of Christmas' vestiges, still clinging to the old year. Dining tables surround a central dance floor, bars and buffets dot the edges of the room and both holly and mistletoe are expressed liberally through the interior.

Mingle, dance, eat and be merry! The New Year will come in at midnight - the band will play and the drinks will flow for long after.]

Comments

[persevere]

[Her lips press together as she shifts from startled to bordering on annoyed, because she's not naive and she's not a little girl and she can take care of herself.]

I know that.

[She didn't think for a second that his mirror wasn't trying to manipulate her, trying to weasel something out of her by saying the creepiest nonsense he could think of. Or maybe he was just crazy.

Either way, she's heard enough about the other side of the mirror to be wary.]

I didn't tell him anything. I wouldn't tell him anything. That doesn't mean it's going to stop him from trying to get on my nerves.

[poppycock]

[ if he were collected; if his sight were clear, he would give her worth that is due. he hardly believes her incapable of protecting herself. she's as much confident in who and what she is as he: of course she's the furthest thing from shortsighted and despite the relative newness of their acquaintance, she has always known him.

but he is not collected. his sight is not fully clear. her words do not reflect the panic and paranoia he feels and perhaps none would. (she may know him, but she has not seen what he is capable of. not yet.) his fingers around hers curl further, tighter; they slip between their hearts. it's not a conscious gesture: it's not a gesture at all. it's fueled by the vigor and alarm in his voice. ] How do you think a man like me would seek to get under your skin? He wants you vulnerable. If he's dangerous, he wants to hurt you. [ his words waver; his lashes flutter because he is vulnerable in this. that is what frightens him most of all: that he would and he could not stop it. ]

[persevere]

I'm not vulnerable, Klaus. I make it a point not to be.

[She's been the victim all too often (will be so in the future so many more times), but she'll be damned if anyone sees her that way. She's stronger now and so help anyone who tries to make her feel weak or powerless.]

Right now the only one who's about to hurt me is you.

[She looks down at where he's clutching at her; he's stronger than her, and with little effort, he could break her bones, tear her apart. She knows that.

And yet, this little conversation right here? She is suddenly very aware that he would be doing the tearing apart to anyone who tried to hurt her, not the other way around.

Her mouth suddenly feels very dry.]

I'll just ignore him, okay? Is that what you want me to do?

[poppycock]

[ he knows that she does: with fierceness in her heart and and in her smiles, caroline perseveres. i did the thing!! isn't that what he has done? build fortresses and terrors so great no one would ever challenge or cross him, and if they did—if they did, they would pay for the mere inclination. he has made a point to make himself invulnerable just as she, but not like her. not with hope, and faith, and worth.

not then.

the reminder of who she is jars him, for as breakable as she is, what is there strong enough to break her spirit? to cow his belief and admiration of it? no one. not even he, and he'd be remiss to imply it.

(but it doesn't change how someone could break her in other ways.)

his lips part and his exhale is heavy. jarred he was but now he nearly flinches, his eyes dropping to their entwined hands and his white-knuckled grasp. his eyes close for a prolonged few seconds at her questions, because what he wants is for her to be safe. for them all to be safe. what he wants is for her to stay removed from the darknesses that shroud him and be safe and happy.

(is it not the curse of all who love him and all he loves to suffer?) his fingers slowly loosen but klaus doesn't step away. when his eyes open, there is steel in them. there is love. more than anything, more than fear or uncertainty, there is guarantee: ] I promise you: [ he stops, caught in her eyes ] I will not let harm come to you. Not on my account. [ his smile is small, but true. ] And not only because you are perfectly capable. [ he believes those words. with one last look at her, he leaves her on the dance floor. ]

[persevere]

[proud of u

She's silent as several different expressions seem to cross his face in the span of a few moments, each one more confusing than the last. Caroline's own eyes drop to their hands, clasped together and on the verge of being painful with how he's clutching her, and her mouth goes dry as she tries to process what it all means.

When she looks back up, he's letting her go, opening his eyes to stare at her in a way she recognizes only vaguely. She's seen it in the eyes of other people, and they've never made it when they looked at her.

She knows the look, and yet she finds she still can't quite accept what she knows she sees. Denial is her greatest ally in this moment, because of all the people to look at her like that, she never expected it to be him.

Caroline had almost come to expect that no one would.

She's stunned into silence at his verbal declaration, her lips parting as words stick in her throat, and then he's walking away, leaving her on the dance floor, alone. Her lips press together, wetting them with her tongue, and she sighs heavily as she turns to look back the way they came before things had gotten even more confusing.]

Of course, he'd say that and just leave...

[Men.]