taxonomites | [ location: bronte beach ] let that igloo cooler mark your piece of paradise.

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[ location: bronte beach ] let that igloo cooler mark your piece of paradise.

Word has it, Taxon, that there's going to be a party. These rumors are not untrue, for one

slaying has arranged something of a get together for the Fourth of July. Unfortunately, the Extras have caught wind of this soirée and are already in the presence of crashing it, rocking those holey jeans and chilling with some Lynyrd Skynyrd and good ol' Hank Williams. This is their kind of party.

Don't let them have all the fun. The sun is getting low, so get on out here and get your party on before fireworks start lighting up the faux night sky.

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Katherine merely raises a brow and tilts her head in question, momentarily distracted by the ridiculously attractive sight of a trace of her own blood on his lips.

"No!" she protests laughingly as Stefan's intent becomes clear, squealing a little as the water hits her. Quickly wiping a hand down her face, she tears after Stefan, laughing as she catches up to him and returns the favor, splashing him furiously.

"Too slow," she teases with a wide grin, brushing aside a few sodden curls that have come loose as she backs down deeper into the water. "Are you a better swimmer?"

"You know well I how strong of a swimmer I am, Miss Katherine," Stefan reminds her in a hushed voice, one that's both almost conspiratorial and a touch shy. Like he used to be, that innocent seventeen-year-old who lived under his father's stern hand and protective wing whose exposure to the war barely went beyond Damon's stories and what he read in the paper.

Oh, she knows, alright. Stefan's words and tone call up the memories in perfect clarity. Katherine dips her chin and smiles impishly, shoulders jumping up and down a little as if in silent laughter. It's a mixture of demureness and mischief that is pure Katherine Pierce à la 1864.

"Now that you mention it, I seem to recall something about that. I must say, I prefer ponds to such vast waters as this. Don't you?" Her lips curl into a tiny smirk. "Splashing Stefan."

"I don't know," Stefan says as he shrugs his shoulders and moves out into deeper water. He can still touch the bottom, but it's deep enough now that he can tread in it, disappearing beneath the surface for a moment to get his hair wet all the way. The vampire pushes it out of his eyes with one hand. "I kind of like the freedom of the sea, don't you?"

"Freedom," she repeats thoughtfully, glancing towards the open waters.

When Katherine was still human, she'd loved nothing more than gazing into the horizon and wondering about all the fantastic things and opportunities that were bound to be found there, beyond the reach of her sight. It had been a terribly romantic notion to the idealistic girl who just wanted more from life than what she had, not material things but love and family. Then she'd been forced on the run, and suddenly being unable to see what lay ahead (and whom she'd come across with) wasn't romantic at all. It was unpredictable, terrifying. Over five hundred years was a staggeringly long time to spend looking over one's shoulder; there was no room for naivety or romanticism when it came to surviving. At least, so she had believed for the longest time.

"Suppose there is that," she finally replies, pushing aside thoughts of the past and making an effort to smile again. "Still, I rather like seeing to the other side."

Stefan shrugs and floats on his back, lighting splashing her with one hand. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

Katherine glances at him in a considering manner, raising a brow when he splashes her. Suddenly a devious grin spreads to her lips - which should be a warning enough for Stefan - before she pushes one hand against his chest, dunking him under.

Uh-oh. He knows that look, he--

And then he's submerged, water flooding his lungs that makes him cough and sputter when he surfaces again. Stefan glowers at her unpleasantly, then grins, deviously. He pounces her, pushing her into the water in turn, laughing all the while. Whoever though that after all this time he could have fun with Katherine? Good, honest fun.

Katherine lifts one hand to her mouth to hide a wide smile when Stefan resurfaces, soaked, but is unable to contain her giggles. The giggles turn into a shriek of laughter when Stefan catches her and returns the favor. A few moments later she's similarly drenched from head to toe, sputtering and pushing back wet strands of hair clinging to her face with one hand while clinging to Stefan's arm with the other.

"Okay, I call for a truce," she pleads, grinning broadly.

Stefan moves to submerge her again, but stops when she asks for a truce. He pretends to think about it, as if the mere notion is something that requires a great deal of thought, before shrugging and sighing like this 'truce' is going to take a great deal of unnecessary effort. "I suppose if you insist."

And while he could yell out 'psych' and dunk her again, and the thought does cross his mind, he refrains. Instead, his arms move to wrap about her form to pull her towards and against him in the water. "See, we can be normal. Average teenager's not so bad, is it?"

"I do," she replies with a slight pout which is quickly replaced by a smirk, some quip about how she'd always known Stefan played rough right on the tip of her tongue - but she curbs the impulse and dismisses the thought. No reason to bring tones from the past into the present, especially when they are having such a good time.

Smiling a softer kind of smile, Katherine loops her arms loosely around Stefan's neck when he pulls her close. "Actually, it's not bad at all. I'm glad we came here today, Stefan. It's been fun."

In many ways, what he's doing with Katherine was benefiting him in ways he's not yet aware of. Stefan had never been entirely comfortable with being a vampire, no matter what he claimed, ashamed of the impulses and urges he felt that weren't exactly kosher amongst the human community that was supposed to be his kind's prey. Katherine has helped him relax and be more accepting of those parts of himself, willing to indulge in baser instincts now and again without being consumed by shame after.

"So am I." He's having trouble seeing why he was so apprehensive about being seen in public with her. What should have him glancing over his shoulder every five seconds as he's eaten away by paranoia isn't even cause for concern.

Katherine, on her part, has noted to her delight some of the changes in Stefan during these past months. There is a part of her that feels guilty of not having been there for him in the beginning to guide him along in his new life as would have been her responsibility. Suppose she should be thankful that Lexi had helped him, but Katherine can't help but think how different things would be if she had been there herself. But she's determined to do what she can now, encouraging him subtly and at times not so subtly. Every time Stefan voluntarily embraces his vampiric tendencies (case in point, biting at her just now) without remorse nowadays, Katherine can't help but feel a little twinge of satisfaction.

Still affected by their earlier playfulness, Katherine trails her hands up Stefan's neck and weaves her fingers into his hair, ruffling the wet strands and laughing quietly. "You're cute like this."

Edited 2011-07-30 14:24 (UTC)

He makes a face at her, full of defiance and disapproval for the term. "I'm am not cute."

Undeterred by Stefan's entirely predictable response, Katherine giggles, grinning. "Are too, and there's nothing wrong with that. God, what is it with guys and their abhorrence of that word?"

"It's a girly word!" He protests, slipping out of her grasp to swim back and away from her, out into deeper water to the point where he can't touch sand with his toes anymore. Stefan treads the water easily, having learned to swim long before that bullet from his father's own gun took his life. "You don't apply girly words to guys."

He spashed at her with one hand. "You don't hear me calling you handsome."

"A girly word?" Katherine repeats on a peal of laughter, tilting her head and smiling. "Not even when I meant it as hot cute, not goofy cute?"

Katherine smirks, splashing him back once. "That used to be perfectly fine, you know. You must have read at least one Jane Austen novel in class."

She doubts anyone can overhear them in the water, but to err on the side of caution she still sticks to their public covers instead of speaking from personal experience.

"Hot is fine," he says, "but not hot cute -- or goofy cute. I'm not goofy, either."

Stefan shrugs in the water. "Never really paid attention," he lies, keeping up the cover just as she is.

Katherine, seeing an opportunity to tease a little, adopts a contemplative expression and tilts her head some more at Stefan's claim of not being goofy.

"Well..." she draws out the word, biting her lip to keep from bursting into giggles. Apparently the danger of being dunked again is not a current concern of hers.

Stefan glowers at her, then disappears under the water. Grabbing one of her legs, he dunks her again. When he resurfaces, he's standing some feet away, grinning like the cat who just caught the mouse.

"Missing something?" He waits a moment, then holds up the bottom piece to her bikini.

Pushing strands of wet hair from her face as she resurfaces, Katherine's jaw drops a little at the scrap of green fabric in Stefan's hand, torn between amusement and indignation.

"Oh, no you didn't!" Planting her hands on her hips in the water, she gives him a mock glare that's pretty halfhearted at best. "I would like that back. Or else."

"I did," he proclaims, twirling the cloth around one finger. "Or else, what?"

Katherine lifts her chin and smirks, a touch impishly. "Or else I'll just have to take off the top, too. I like symmetry."

Stefan's eyebrows raise, mind wandering to how alluring the sight would be -- then they narrow in instant disapproval as he remembers that this is a public place. Farther out in the water than most they may be, but a topless teenager would surely draw attention.

"You wouldn't."

"Wouldn't I?" Katherine's smirk broadens into a grin as she reaches behind her back to toy with the clasp of the halter top. "Didn't you say something about looking forward to seeing me out of this?"

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;

we'll still have the summer after all;