taxonomites | oo1 ˪holo || @sanctuary˥

Caroline set the flat iron down on her sink, shaping one of her blonde curls with her finger. She was frazzled from the night before and the fact that Matt still hadn't answered her messages (it was official - he -was- avoiding her), but that didn't mean she was going to go out looking like a wreck. When she was satisfied with her hair, she turned off her flat iron and unplugged it from the wall. What she had expected was to walk through the door leading into her hallway and to be, well, in her hallway.

That was not how things actually went. Instead, she found herself in an unfamiliar room (if it could be called that at all) on some sort of platform... thingy. Were she less out of her comfort zone, she would have tried to describe it with something less general, but right now 'thingy' would have to do. It described most of what she saw -- especially the weird device above her.

There was something unfamiliar on her arm and looking down revealed it to be a silver bracelet. "Ew, what's this? It's incredibly tacky." Removing it was apparently a no-go, because the bracelet didn't budge. "Is this -stuck- on me? Okay, I don't know what's going on here, but," she fiddled with the bracelet, disgusted that apparently seemed -fused- onto her, "this is definitely not cool." Caroline was aware that she had inevitably bigger problems, but this one seemed manageable and like a good place to start. "How do I get this thing off?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Caroline waits until she hears Elena's voice. "Elena?" Once she spots Elena, she feels a moment of relief and immediately wraps her arms around her friend into something of a desperate hug. "Thank God."

Elena hugs her back as tight as she can, relieved to see her friend again. She'd just seen her over the strange weekend that brought so many newcomers into the city, but she was still happy to see her again, although she worried about her with Katherine still in the city. Speaking of...

"We should get over to where I've been staying," she says, looking around. She doesn't know whether or not Katherine's gone back to normal yet, but she doesn't want to risk running into her if she's not. "I can explain everything when we're there. What's the last thing you remember from home?"

Caroline nods, finally letting go. Her features read as hopelessly overwhelmed, but she knows there's no point in staying here.

Her heart sinks into what feels like her stomach at the question. "Matt..." she replied. "Matt found out everything, Elena." The heartbreak in her voice inevitably tells exactly what she's feeling. Matt's action to the grand reveal has crushed her more than she wants to let on, but acting like it didn't is just too hard right now with how emotionally exhausted she is from discovering she's been abducted by aliens.

Elena doesn't miss the discomfort, and she offers her arm to hook with hers if Caroline wants to take it. It's a tad more touchy than she's typically used to being, but she knows just how jarring the experience of arriving in Taxon is, even when one doesn't arrive in the city from a car wreck.

"He - " Elena's a little thrown off by what Caroline's just said. Matt finding out is obviously not something Stefan or Damon knows about, since Stefan had only just found out about Caroline being turned into a vampire and Damon would likely had have brought it up with one of them if he knew. So Caroline had to be further ahead than everyone else.

"I'm sorry, Caroline," Elena says, shaking her head sadly. She's sorry for much more than Matt figuring things out, but that's an easy cover.

Caroline accepts the offer and hooks her arm with Elena's, finding relief in the physical contact, something small to keep her grounded. Something to remind her that as much as she feels it, she isn't alone.

"Me too," she whispers hopelessly. "I know I've got like so much more important things to worry about now, but..." She shakes her head. She has to snap out of it and think of something beyond Matt for a moment. "We've really been abducted by aliens?"

Elena nods. "Hamster-shaped aliens, actually. And I know how crazy that sounds, and I don't know how to prove it to you, but it's the truth."

"I believe you." She's been told about the hamster aliens, and while she hadn't bought Katherine's word, she knows that Stefan and Elena wouldn't lie to her about something so... ridiculous. "I wish I didn't," she laughs halfheartedly.

"This whole place is some kind of city?"

Elena nods. "And most of the landmarks were brought here by people from their home. My friend brought the castle we're going to. Stefan and Damon have the boarding house. Some other people brought smaller items." She brought her necklace, the one that Stefan had given her, which is now conspicuously absent from around her neck.

They reach the tram, and Elena holds the door so that Caroline can get on. The tram is mostly empty, save for a few Extras, so she feels more comfortable going more into the topics that need to be discussed.

"We may have to wait on the steps for a little bit - Dawn wants to meet you before she invites you in," she explains first as she takes a seat. "She knows, but we've been trying to keep the vampire thing from the rest of the city. There are other vampires here, but Stefan and Damon want to keep a low profile for as long as they can."

"A castle?" It's something that grabs Caroline's interest. She'd never seen a castle, and oddly enough the awe of that was what she focused on. "Wait, brought things? Did I bring something?" She had yet to realize that she had brought something along with her -- an entire building even.

Stepping into the tram, Caroline gives Elena a quick, "Thanks." She glances around the tram and gives an involuntary shudder. There's something odd about the other passengers. "What's wrong with them?" she asks in a hushed whipser (though it's probably not as hushed as she thinks it is).

"And who's Dawn?"

"People around here call them the Extras," Elena explains, giving a nearby one a weary look. "They act more like robots than people. You can tell them apart from the..." - she hesitates to say it, because it sounds so awful, but there's not really another way to put it - "actual people by these." And she holds up her right hand and points to the silver band embedded in her wrist.

"Dawn is the girl who the castle belongs to," she says with a smile. "I've been staying there on and off since I arrived. And you should have - here, let me see your tablet for a second," she says, reaching out for it and waiting for Caroline to hand her tablet over. "The blinking dot shows you what you've brought."

The ugly silver bracelet. "Great," Caroline mumbles. "I'd rather be a robot." That isn't true by any means, but hey, at least they're spared the tacky jewelry.

While she's curious as to why Elena isn't staying with Stefan, Elena's request took it off her mind for now. She hands over her tablet and peers over Elena's shoulder. "So, it's... wherever that dot is? Should I go see?"

oo1 ˪holo || @sanctuary˥

˪ location˥

˪ location˥

˪ location˥

˪ location˥

˪ location˥

˪ location˥

˪ location˥

˪ location˥

˪ location˥

˪ location˥

˪ location˥