taxonomites | now i rock a house party at the drop of a hat.

now i rock a house party at the drop of a hat.

It's around five o'clock in the morning when the citizens of Taxon find themselves inexplicably transported into rooms within the Sanctuary. Doors are left open and beds unmade, food abandoned and lights left on, still shining brightly for those who were awake and are no longer present. The Extras don't seem to notice the captive population's sudden disappearance, continuing on with their business as usual.

For those relocated, though, it's an entirely different story.

They find themselves in rooms with white, alabaster walls that gives them an almost too-clean feeling, as if the entire place was sanitized prior to their arrival. The room assignments are seemingly random, people placed on floors with those they don't know and don't like, people they would rather not be within twenty feet of. It matters not, for what's done is done and cannot be undone. For those who happen to have pets, they'll find them waiting for their owners in the rooms as if nothing is out of the ordinary.

The only thing the captives have managed to bring with them is the clothes on their back and the tablets. On them, they find the following message:

SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE PLEASE ENJOY YOUR STAY WHILE WE ADDRESS CERTAIN TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

Unfortunately for those who try to find a means of escape, they'll discover there is none. Leaving the Sanctuary will prove to be as difficult as leaving Taxon itself. However, if one heads down the right corridor and the right floor, they'll find something else entirely lurking in their midst...

( ooc | sorry for the delay in posting! your mods were otherwise occupied with things of the irl variety this morning. THIS BE A PARTY POST, Y'ALL. room assignments are here, and refer back to the sott post proper for any additional information. please contact us with any questions/concerns you may have in regards to this plot. ♥ )

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Stefan groaned against her lips when she did that, gripping her hips before he pulled back. At this rate, he was going to smell distinctly of Elena and would need to find a shower before he sought out Katherine. He wasn't sure how she would react to him smelling like her doppelgänger, no matter what the reason for it. She may take her anger out on him, and she may go after Elena instead. The former he could handle, but would rather avoid the latter. Shower it would have to be.

"You were right," he says, looking up from the kitten. "She has the moonstone. And I think I know how I can get it, but I'm going to need your help."

Elena is left breathing a little hard, her skin flushed and her hair slightly mussed. A shower would probably be a good idea for her, too, even though she doubts Katherine will be looking for her and she has no intentions of tracking her down unless she absolutely has to. She clears her throat, running her hand through her hair before settling it back on his waist, trying to calm her body back down and not get distracted from what he has to tell her. This is important.

"Of course," she says, nodding. "What do you need me to do?"

Despite the seriousness of the conversation at hand, Stefan can't keep his hands off of her. Behind closed doors with everyone else occupied with finding their footing while they're all trapped in the Sanctuary, he's got a chance to act like things are as they ought to be. He can pretend, as long as that door stays closed, that the past few months never happened, that he's not with Katherine and not feeling something for her, despite his best attepts not to. He can pretend everything is fine, and that his relationship with Elena is still going strong and wasn't broken off months ago when he crossed a line he shouldn't have. He can pretend that touching her and holding her and kissing her, showering her with affection doesn't make him the same as Katherine in showing two people attention that's meant for just one.

He hopes that door never opens, and takes her by the hand, leading her over to the bed where he sits down.

"I need a fake," he explains to her. "A mock-up. Something that looks and feels enough like the moonstone so that I can swap it with the real thing. I'd just take it, but Katherine would notice it was gone. She views it as some sort of safety net. It gives her a false sense of security. If we can't take it away from her, we can make her believe she still has it."

Edited 2011-06-11 05:42 (UTC)

Elena entwines her fingers with his as he takes hold of her hand, pressing her lips together as she looks down at them. She feels a pang in her chest as she remembers that this is temporary, that it's only going to last until he tells her what he needs to, and not for the first time she realizes how much she misses him and this closeness between them. A lump forms in her throat and she swallows hard to push it back, focusing on what he's asking of her.

It's not easy, given their sudden proximity - neither is wearing much in the way of clothing, and the bed is small enough that their knees are bumping against each other, and she can feel herself flush. So she clears her throat before speaking, forcing herself to make eye contact.

"What are you going to do with it, once you have it?"

For a moment, Stefan is distracted by the flush of color staining her cheeks, but quickly blinks and looks elsewhere, focusing on one of the bright white walls to get his thoughts back in order. Business first. That's why he came here. Using the availability of the moment to have a conversation that could've been done over the tablets in person, for the sake of being able to do it in person for a change.

"The fake? I'll switch it with the real moonstone. Once I've got the real one, I'll... give it to you, I guess. It's part of the curse involving you; you should be the one holding it, who's in control of what happens to it."

Elena nods, drawing the corner of her bottom lip between her teeth as she thinks about that. It would probably be a good idea to destroy it, once she has it, but she's not sure if simply breaking it would be enough to do that. She makes a mental note to ask Willow about it when she gets a chance to, preferably during a time when they're not all trapped in the same building so that the word doesn't have a chance to spread. It's risky enough meeting with him like this, but she's glad that he took the chance.

"All right," she agrees, nodding. "I'll need to know what it looks like, but I can't hatch it until we're out of here. Or until they fix whatever's wrong with the hatches."

"I can't get to it while we're stuck here, anyway. Rose might know what it looks like - maybe even Caroline," and there's a wince and frown that follows mentioning the blonde vampire who was supposed to be his ward since Damon wasn't in the business of putting any effort into caring for those he turned, unintentional siring or not. He wants to ask if she's been settling into Taxon okay, but that's not why he's here. "If no-one from home who's ahead of me in the timeline doesn't know what it looks like and how it feels, I'll get a description to you."

Stefan reaches out with the fingers of the hand not already entwinned with hers to touch her arm, tracing patterns from her elbow to her shoulder, down and back up again. "If you have it, then if Klaus ever shows up in Taxon, he'll be barganing with you and not Katherine. Your life will be in your own hands and not someone else's. Both you and the moonstone are needed for the ritual. Without one or the other, it can't be performed."

"Okay," she says, nodding again. "That's a good plan. I'll see if I can ask Caroline - I haven't had a chance to talk too much to Rose yet," she realizes with a touch of guilt. "I'll see if I can later."

She draws in a quiet breath as he starts to touch her, focusing on eye contact and his words again instead of the patterns he's tracing into her skin. And she's glad that she does, because what he says to her makes her heart swell with hope for the first time in what feels like ages. All of a sudden, she feels a little lighter, a little relieved. It means so much to her that he's giving her that bit of control; she doesn't feel like she's doomed to die anymore.

A little laugh escapes her lips, and she brings a hand to her cheek to wipe away a tear that's trickled out of the corner of her eye. She doesn't say anything for a moment, and her gaze travels down to their joined hands, to his other hand still trailing along her arm. Then she looks up at him and cups his cheek with her free hand, looking into his eyes.

"Thank you," she whispers, and then she leans in to kiss him.

Just as Stefan resolves to let go and pull away, get up off this bed before something happens, she kisses him. That kiss undoes him, and he caves to desire, pushing her back against the mattress with a groan against her lips. The fact that they don't have time for this, shut door or not, escapes him at the moment, too caught up in the feel of her beneathe him, happy to just kiss her and hold her for as long as he's allowed to.

The door is shut and locked, but that doesn't necessarily mean it can't be broken down, that what they're doing won't be discovered. And yet Elena finds that she doesn't really care, and though she's surprised that he's responding to her like this, she goes with it, laying back without hesitation and letting him hold her down. Her legs wrap around his hips and her arm circles around the back of his neck to pull him closer as she kisses him deeper.

The time to stop passed, Stefan indulges, using touch - his mouth, his hands, his hips - instead of words to show her just how much he loves her. He doesn't think of Katherine for a second, completely lost in Elena and the familiar contours of her body and the feel of it against his own. Knowing well that they don't have the luxory of being able to lay in bed enjoying one another all day as they would both like, Stefan makes quick work of making love to her; not so quick as to not give them the opportunity to savor each moment, but enough not to make their absences noticeable.

When it's done and over with, he lays on his back with Elena in his arms, dropping a chaste kiss to her forehead. "I love you," he says. Stefan knows he should get up, find his clothes, but the desire to not get out of bed overpowers the need to do so. For the moment.

When it's over, Elena's left with her heart pounding and her breath coming in quiet pants (because the danger that someone could come looking for either of them is very real, and if they happen to come knocking on her door there's nowhere for him to hide), but she is calm, content and secure. She knows that it can't last, that it's too risky for him to stay here for much longer, but she's going to savor this for as long as she can.

"I love you, too," she says from where she's draped herself over him, head tucked against his cheek. She reaches for one of his hands and pulls it to her mouth, pressing her lips against his knuckles. 'I've missed you', she thinks, but that goes without saying.

Stefan would like nothing more than to spend the rest of the day lying in this bed with her in his arms, but he knows he can't. Yet, he lingers a few moments longer, resisting the temptation to let his hands wander once more and initiate a repeat of what they'd just done. They don't have time for that; any longer and someone is going to come looking for one of them, wanting to know why they've been uncharacteristically reclusive when they're both social creatures.

Reluctantly, he sits up, pulling her up with him - gently - as he does so, rubbing her shoulders and the muscles at the base of her neck for a moment, before he lets his hands fall away from her and to his sides. "I should get going," he says, unable to keep the sadness out of his voice.

Elena lets her eyes slip close as his hands start to knead at the muscles in her shoulders and neck, letting her head tip back as she pulls her hair out of the way. A soft, pleased little sound escapes her lips (not unlike the ones she'd been making a short while ago), and she reaches back to touch his wrist as he lets his hands fall back down.

He tells her he needs to go, and she stiffens for a moment. She knows he's right; it's possible that people are still wrapped up in the confusion of the situation and trying to figure out what's happening and where people are, but sooner or later, someone's going to notice that they're gone and try to find out where they are. She sighs, nodding once and then turning to face him. She has to force herself not to reach out and touch him again, because she's pretty sure that if she starts, she won't be able to stop.

"I know," she says quietly, not bothering to hide her own emotions, because she knows he'd see right through it if she tried. It's odd - she doesn't feel devastated or on the verge or tears. In fact, she feels better about things than she has in a while. But a part of her still feels hollow and sad.

Stefan moves off the bed, finding his boxers first where they landed near the door and pulls them on. His shirt, he finds resting beneath Charlotte, who decided to curl up on it and make the wife beater her new bed. He kneels beside the kitten, who mews at him in protest when he moves her off the shirt and too the floor.

"Sorry, girl," he tells her, scratching the kitten under her chin. "I need this."

Elena smooths her hair down a bit before leaving the bed to find her own clothing. She finds the purple tank top she'd slept in first, at the side of her bed, and pulls it on before spotting her underwear a few feet away from where Stefan is getting his shirt back from Charlotte. Once they're back on, she starts to look for her pajama shorts.

"Sorry," she says, shaking her head a little at the kitten, who's decided to hop onto the bed in lieu of being able to use Stefan's shirt as a pillow.

Stefan shakes the shirt to rid it of any cat hair that might've stuck to the fibers of the fabric before pulling it on over his head. Clothed once more, he knows that it's time for him to go. His piece has been said and he's engaged in more behind this closed door than he intended, but he doesn't regret it. They both needed that, needing the reassurance that what they felt for one another hadn't gone away.

"You'll talk to Damon and the others about the moonstone?"

"Yeah," she says with a nod, forgoing her search for her pajama shorts for the moment to look at him. She doesn't regret what they've done, either, although she realizes that it makes things a bit more dangerous and complicated. "Once I find out where they are - should I fill Dawn in on it, too?"

"If you think it's a good idea to involve her," Stefan says. He doesn't mean that he doesn't want Dawn involved. He trusts her. The vampire doesn't want to overwhelm the girl who just experienced a pretty nasty glitch with drama that's not her own if Elena doesn't think Dawn's up to it. She's not obligated to help them, after all - but that's Elena's call to make, not his.

Elena nods, weighing the pros and cons of filling her in about the moonstone. It's not her drama to deal with, but she's pretty involved already and she doesn't think that Dawn will appreciate not being filled in, and aside from that, she'll probably have some ideas on what to do with the moonstone, too. On the other, she's also dealing with a lot right now.

"I'll let you know if I end up telling her," she replies, taking a few steps closer to him and reaching out to take his hand, if he'll let her. "Be careful."

Stefan lets her, and even goes as far as to pull her back into his arms so that he can envelope her in his embrace. He keeps himself grounded, rooted to the spot, for if he allows his feet to move, he may just take them back over to the bed and give someone a reason to come looking for them both.

After a moment, he draws back, cuping her face in his palms. "I will. Same goes for you, okay?" He knows Elena well enough; if she feels there's a good enough reason to do something stupid, she'll do it. And he won't be around to watch her back.

Elena closes her eyes as he pulls her to him and embraces her, wrapping him up in her arms as tightly as she can. It lasts a few short, sweet moments, and then he pulls back and cups her face and she covers his wrist with her own hand, nodding as she looks back into his eyes.

"I will." Beat. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Stefan allows himself to kiss her one last time, a quick, chaste press of lips against lips, before he's letting go of her and slipping out the door.

He needs to find a shower, else Katherine's going to know he was with Elena, or that he at least just had sex with someone not her.

Edited 2011-06-15 01:55 (UTC)

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now i rock a house party at the drop of a hat.

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;

but the memory dies as the sun leaves the skies;