taxonomites | 4 | [ location: the taxon zoo / visual ]

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4 | [ location: the taxon zoo / visual ]

While Taxon is a city of decent size, it is also rather sleepy and quiet outside of any glitches. When Katherine set out and about earlier, she hadn't specifically intended to visit the zoo. As it is, it's as good a place as any for the vampire to roam about (despite the distinctive smells the place is ripe with) in effort to ease the boredom creeping in again. Angelus had been a delightful change of pace, but that is over and done with. And now Rose has been sticking her nose where it doesn't belong, telling Stefan about being her sire. Katherine would definitely have to do something about that soon.

She passes the wolf paddock with distasteful sniff, heading towards the big cat enclosures instead. While Katherine has never really seen the appeal in gawking at trapped wild animals, she has to admit that there is something vaguely calming about watching the small pride of lions basking in the sun as if they hadn't a care in the world. It's almost enviable, really.

The trouble with calm is that it inevitably leads to idleness and boredom, at least it does with Katherine - and that's exactly what she's trying to avoid. Hence, she turns her attention towards her tablet.

"Going to the zoo just isn't much fun alone. Anyone want to join me?" she smiles winsomely at the screen. "Doesn't matter whether I know you or not. One can never have too many friends."

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"That'd be best," he concedes, grabbing hold of the body and slinging it over his shoulder before rising effortlessly to his feet as if his seventeen-year-old frame wasn't sporting something he shouldn't be able to lift on one shoulder like it were a beach towel. "Woods near the tomb. I'll hatch a shovel somewhere."

While there were a plethora of shovels back at the house, there was no way in hell Stefan was going back there right now. The blood on him would alert Damon, even if he made a point not to make any noise. And God, the blood. As bland as the taste of the Extras may be, it's warm in his stomach and it's been a good long while since Stefan's fed from someone and drained them dry. On top of having started drinking human blood again, this is going to have him ansty and debating vervaining himself for days to come. He could be such an idiot at times.

"Let's go." Stefan's used to taking charge of situations, but not so much leading where Katherine's concerned. He's half-hoping she'll refrain from following, but he's not foolish enough to think she'll turn away from him so easily after what he'd initiated.

Katherine can't quite suppress a grimace at the mention of the tomb, but she makes no comment upon it. Personally, she'd be perfectly fine if she never had to hear of it or see it ever again.

Her head tilts slightly at Stefan's no-nonsense way of taking charge and giving orders, but she doesn't bristle like she normally would had it been anyone else daring to tell her what to do. Instead she's curious, intrigued. Really, it should perhaps concern her how much she seems to let Stefan get away with, but... it doesn't.

"You lead, I follow," she quips with a wily smirk, inclining her head in agreeing manner. There's no chance she's letting Stefan go off on his own now when things have gotten so very interesting. Body-dumping might not be the most romantic of activities, but she'd take what she could get. And it never hurt to have another pair of eyes to keep a lookout when illegally disposing of dead things.

"Something tells me this may not be the first time you've had to do this here," she suddenly says, dutifully trailing a step behind him, slightly to the side. "Notice it didn't take you long to come up with a suitable location."

"Not for myself," Stefan answers honestly. She can probably figure out for who. He'd ran around cleaning up Damon's mess the last time his brother freaked out and did the best version of taking off one could in this place, leaving random dead Extras in his wake. While Stefan had killed one before himself in a moment of overwhelming emotional turmoil in which he'd flipped the switch for the second it took an Extra to stumble upon him, he hadn't hid that body. Damon had sent him back to the house and taken care of that for him, because the brothers are screwed up and need so much therapy.

This, however, Stefan's doing on his own. He has to in order to preserve the bubble of secrecy he's wrapped around himself.

As soon as they're clear of the zoo, Stefan launches into a more appropriate speed; it takes him no time to reach the edge of the woods that make him feel as if he's back home in Virginia. He knows better, though. This is just a section of home, just like the boarding house. Virginia is so far away, and it wasn't until coming to Taxon did Stefan realize how much home meant to him. No matter where he went over the years, Virginia was always right there for him to return to whenever he pleased. He doesn't have that luxury here and it frustrates him more than he can bring himself to say.

He drops the body once he finds a spot. "Watch it. I'll be back." Again with the orders. Stefan disappears for a few minutes, returning with a shovel and gets to work with the digging.

Katherine smiles wryly, for she can indeed figure it out. In fact, she'd expected that very answer. Oh, Damon, Damon, Damon. Always the little troublemaker. She says nothing further about the topic but carefully files the information away for possible later use. Keeping up with the pace Stefan sets is no problem to the older vampire, and a part of her relishes the spurt surprisingly much. It was quite a different affair to run for the sake of running (dead Extra or no) than running because someone was after you.

She gives Stefan an indulgent smile and a slightly sarcastic salute in response to his order, not so much watching anything as much as she's listening, concentrating on arranging a few errant curls back into place that have been disturbed by their run. When Stefan finally returns with the shovel, Katherine leans her back against a nearby tree, crossing her arms and propping one heel against the trunk while quite shamelessly watching Stefan dig.

"I must say I never realized just how good you are at giving orders, taking charge," Katherine remarks with a grin. "I like it."

"Did you think Damon was the brains of our merry little band?" The pot shot at his brother is again a way of weaving his frustrations with himself into a complicated circle in which if you squint, you can see that he's actually berating himself. Damon's his problem, etc. The self-mocking is in there. Somewhere. (Truth is, usually, it's either a combination of him and Damon or Alaric taking charge of all of them. But oh, details, details.)

Stefan makes quick work of digging the hole, wiping sweat off his brow as he climbs out of the shallow grave to retrieve the body, tossing it inside. Then begins the burying process, being careful to pat the ground down when he's finished in a way that makes it look as undisturbed as possible. You can thank decades of cleaning up after Damon's sloppy kills for that.

"There." He sticks the shovel in the ground and leans up against it. "That should do it."

"Oh, ouch," Katherine chuckles at the remark about Damon, smirking. Normally, she would gleefully take that particular bait for there's no denying that she loves to both rile Damon up and to talk a little smack about him, but right now she'll so much rather concentrate on the other brother before her. Silently, she watches him finish burying the Extra, utterly unable to resist the temptation he presents, leaning up against the shovel like that.

Smiling appreciatively, Katherine pushes herself off of the tree and in a blink of an eye moves to stand behind Stefan, snaking her arms around him and splaying her hands against his front, one on his chest and one on his stomach.

"Nice job," she purrs, lifting a bit on her toes so she can rest her chin on his shoulder and whisper in his ear, "Here we are, alone at last. Where were we again before that unfortunate interruption?"

Oh, Stefan, there are no Extras to bail you out trouble this time.

Edited 2011-04-13 13:13 (UTC)

Unseen, thanks to her standing behind him, Stefan grimaces and casts an exasperated glance up at the heavens. There are a variety of options at his disposal for where he should move the piece on this game board of his to next. Caving into her isn't an option, for not only would that complicate things further, it would also seem far too out of character for him. He's not going to take the risk of an eager to indulge Katherine cluing into his ploy. He could also flee, or even bounce off those carnal post-kill feelings and get her to play a game of chase with him.

None of those seem very suitable, so instead Stefan settles for a more neutral ground; something indulgent of what she wants from him, yet not so much that he sees himself crossing that line he's thus far avoided stepping over. Also, very perfectly him. He's the good one, the one who feels and cares and is considerate of others, after all. Feeling conflicted is a go.

"What are we doing?" He asks of her, then turns around in her embrace with one quick movement. "What am I doing? I have a girlfriend, I love Elena, yet..." Stefan lifts his hands to her face, cradling her cheeks in his palms. "Yet, I can't seem to stay away. I know I should, but I don't feel much like listening to reason when I'm around you."

Smiling, Katherine inches a little closer, running her hands up to his shoulders. A languid warmth suffuses her whole being when he's close to her like this, telling her things she's wanted to hear for such a long time. Greedily, she wants more of it, more of him, and all to herself.

"Reason has nothing to do with this, Stefan," Katherine says, closing her eyes briefly to enjoy his touch. "Don't you see? Elena will never be enough. She can't ever fully satisfy you the way I can, I know it and you know it as well, otherwise you wouldn't be here now."

There's a rare touch of vulnerability in her expression that's only ever evident around Stefan. She trails her hands up his arms lightly, one hand curling around his wrist and the other covering his larger one on her cheek.

"I want to give you everything, Stefan," she murmurs, her gaze softening as she holds his eyes. "I love you."

Stefan presses a chaste kiss to her forehead, drawing her in against his chest and wrapping his arms around her in attempt to steer her away from what she obviously wants to happen with him in these woods; against a tree or the forest floor. He's not willing to sleep with her, it's already going to break Elena's heart when she finds out what he's done already.

"I was so sure of everything, where I stood with you and what I felt about everything, but I was wrong," he tells her, running his fingers through her hair. "I know I shouldn't feel for you after all you've done, but after a hundred and forty-five years, you're still able to make me feel something for you. I don't know what it is, but it's there and I can't ignore it anymore."

Lies. All lies. And for a brief moment, Stefan feels guilty about what he's doing when he sees that flicker of honest emotion cross her features. It makes him feel sick inside to realize that Katherine was right about him being the rougher and meaner of Giuseppe's sons. He's doing nothing but proving her right in manipulating her like he is, using her love for him against her.

For once Stefan's about to catch a lucky break, for the more he speaks to her like this, the more he's stirring up purely emotional responses in Katherine rather than physical, her sexual desire making way to a feeling that is a great deal more profound, complicated and confusing. She still wants him - God, does she ever - but Katherine is surprised to find that her mood and immediate needs have shifted dramatically. Right now, she'd actually rather just stay here in his embrace like this.

"I know," she murmurs softly, cuddling closer against him and angling her head to press her temple against the crook of his neck, her arms wrapping around his shoulders tightly. She closes her eyes and inhales his scent, sighing as she's lulled to calmness by the warmth and firmness of his body against hers and his hand stroking her hair.

She's content, Katherine realizes with sudden clarity, unable to remember the last time she'd felt this good.

"I should get going," Stefan says after a moment, taking a step back from her, but sliding his hands into hers as he does so. "Get cleaned up and find something else to wear so Damon doesn't flip out on me and start up with the third degree."

He'll shower somewhere, hatch new clothes and dispose of the ones he's wearing. New shoes, too. If he got any blood on them, Damon will be able to smell it. Such a dangerous game he's playing.

"Already?" Katherine makes a little moue of displeasure, tempted to tell Stefan to forget about Damon for a while longer. Still, he has a point. She doesn't want Damon to throw a wrench into things now when everything was going so well, but she doesn't have to like being separated from Stefan already, either. "Oh, I suppose if you must."

She squeezes his hands gently in hers, her tone suffused with hopefulness as she adds, "But I will see you again soon?"

"Of course," Stefan replies, letting go of one hand to take her cheek in his palm. "Just because I don't know what I'm doing here yet doesn't mean I want to stop. Taxon's only so big, after all."

That promise is sealed with a kiss, one he takes care to ensure is tender and full of emotion, rather than the lust and passion at the zoo which had almost lead to clothing being discarded.

Edited 2011-04-17 00:40 (UTC)

"I'll hold you to that." The corners of Katherine's lips quirk upwards against Stefan's mouth, the pleased smile lingering even when they pull apart some moments later.

"Well, then," she breathes softly, "Goodbye for now."

Best zoo trip ever.

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4 | [ location: the taxon zoo / visual ]

the predator in me is put to shame by the predator in her;

the predator in me is put to shame by the predator in her;

the predator in me is put to shame by the predator in her;

the predator in me is put to shame by the predator in her;

the predator in me is put to shame by the predator in her;

the predator in me is put to shame by the predator in her;

the predator in me is put to shame by the predator in her;

the predator in me is put to shame by the predator in her;

the predator in me is put to shame by the predator in her;

the predator in me is put to shame by the predator in her;

the predator in me is put to shame by the predator in her;

the predator in me is put to shame by the predator in her;

the predator in me is put to shame by the predator in her;

the predator in me is put to shame by the predator in her;