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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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?"

Stefan was in front of her within seconds, quicker than he should move in public, but no-one seemed to take notice. The bottom to her swimsuit dangled from his wrist as he reached behind to fist his hand around the clasp of her top to stop her from undoing it.

"I did," he told her. His other hand disappeared into the water between them. Stefan. "Just not here. Later."

Katherine pouts playfully at first, but Stefan's wandering hand has her drawing in a sharp breath, the mirth gone from her face. Her hands come up to grasp his shoulders as she presses a little closer to him still, gently trapping his hand between their bodies.

"Is that a promise?" she breathes huskily, close to his ear.

"Shh," Stefan soothes, his hand flattening on her back as he pulls her tighter against him in the water; it was deep enough, but not too deep. The dark blue water hid anything going on below it's surface from onlookers, which was a blessing to the vampires as the hand trapped between their bodies travels lower. Stefan grins against her neck. "Mmm. Promise."

What happened to the cautious, careful boy he'd been once upon a time?

Katherine has no problem with this less cautious Stefan, that's for sure. Boldly, she lifts one leg a little and hooks her calf behind his under the water, shivering at the feel of Stefan's breath against her neck. She tilts her head slightly, and the way the movement exposes her pulse point is hardly an accident. It's practically an invitation.

"That's good," she sighs, either in response to his promise or to what he's doing with his hand. Perhaps both.

Whatever she means by that, Stefan takes it as encouragement to keep going and he does. That hint isn't missed and if he'd been the one facing the shore, he might've chuckled at her and whispered an additional 'later' into her ear. He isn't, however; she is. Stefan's facing the illusion of water that goes on forever. He knows it doesn't. There's a barrier out there, somewhere, it's just a matter of hitting it. There's no part of Taxon that isn't enclosed in this barrier.

He trusts she'll say something if someone spots them and doesn't voice the order. Shifting into his fangs, Stefan bites her neck like he did before.

Katherine spares a quick, cursory glance towards the beach - thankfully nobody seems to be paying them any attention - before her eyes slip shut as Stefan's fangs draw blood from her neck. She bites her own blunt teeth into her lower lip to keep quiet, but can't quite hold back a low moan. The public place, the chance of someone catching on to what they are really doing only thrills Katherine more and her breathing quickens, hands clutching at Stefan's shoulders tightly. With effort, she forces her eyes open again, doing her best to keep watch despite being... distracted.

Stefan lifts his head, fangs dulling to the blunt teeth of a human, eyes once bloodshot now green again. The hand on her back strays for a moment to bring a palm full of water up to wash away the blood from the already healed mark he made on her. He kisses the spot he bit her and turns them around so he's now the one facing the shore, not once ceasing with his distractions.

In a return offer, Stefan tilts his head to the side. No words are spoken, but he believes it's understood by now that she can, if she wants. He knows she likes to bite as much as she likes to be bitten.

Edited 2011-08-01 07:23 (UTC)

Predictably, Katherine does indeed want. She lines a few kisses up the side of his neck before allowing her face to change, closing her fangs around the veins beneath the skin and sucking, mimicking feeding from him like she'd done back in 1864 -- with the taste of Stefan's blood on her tongue, her breath catches suddenly and every muscle tenses, her teeth biting down a bit harder on a hiss that's not entirely human-like. Shuddering, Katherine pulls her mouth away from the already healing mark and leans her forehead against his shoulder, breathing heavily. She chuckles lazily after a moment, recovering enough to force her features back into human. Nicely distracted, Stefan.

"I should definitely dare you more often if that's the result," she murmurs languidly, turning her head on his shoulder and smirking up at him.

Stefan sucks in a sharp breath when she bites him, groaning in both pain and pleasure when she bites down harder. He can't help but be reminded of the past, days long gone where his blood provided her with a meal, actual nourishment. Those days still dredge up a complicated mess of feelings, but he's oddly more comfortable with them now.

"What can I say, I'm full of surprises."

He withdrew his hand, shaking the bottoms to her suit into his palm. Stepping back from her some, he held them out to her. "Better put these back on."

"Mm, indeed," she purrs with a contented smile.

Katherine takes the bottoms from him and slips them back on beneath the surface. Closing the scant distance between them, she brushes away a smear of blood from his neck with her wet hand and moves her palm to his nape, kissing him.

"I love you."

"I love you."

When he says it then, he finds that he means it. Stefan's said it to her dozens of times before in forced conversation and half-intended tones. This is the first time he's said it to her with the words holding true meaning for him, and he's uncertain of how he should feel about that.

He doesn't forgive her. There are a lot of things he'll never forgive her for, even if he now understands her intentions. What happened to him and Damon, whatever she hinted would have happened anyway if they hadn't met early graves at their father's hand, what she did to the tomb vampires, the mayor, Caroline, what she was planning to do to Elena -- so many wrongdoings; so much pain and destruction all in the name of one life. Katherine's own.

Love, of course, is a tricky thing. Not approving of the things someone does, not being able to forgive their sins often has little to do with that, for love does not listen to reason. It doesn't know logic.

Stefan won't forgive her, but he does love her. There's a part of him that hates himself for it.

Katherine smiles softly, always happy to hear him say those three words aloud. They've come such a long way during these past months, perhaps not quite as smoothly as she would have hoped, but she's not about to complain. She has what she's wanted for over a century now, doesn't she? Everything is just perfect - or so she believes.

"Had enough fun in the surf? We're going to get all wrinkly and pruney if we stay here for much longer."

He's lying to her about a lot of things, withholding information and using that which she's shared with him against her, yet that's not why he's still here. Stefan should've called this off the moment he'd learned she had the moonstone; taken it while she slept and retreated to the castle or some other place she didn't have an invite, proclaiming his deception. That had been what brought him to her side, but love kept him there.

Stefan's finding that as much as he wants to protect Elena, he wants to protect Katherine, too; this declarations of doing whatever he can to protect her from Klaus becoming more and more genuine as time goes on. If he can do something, he'll do it. Even if Katherine is rather deserving at this point of whatever fate bestows her. Because he loves her.

Love. He's starting to hate that word. Katherine may've loved both him and his brother, once upon a time, and maybe she still did, but that didn't mean it was okay for Stefan to love both her and Elena, yet he did and doesn't know which girl he wants. Damn it all.

Despite his thoughts, he grins and sweeps her up into his arms in the water. "How's making an appearance for food and then heading back? Unless you want to stay for the fireworks. I heard there was going to be fireworks."

Katherine throws her arms around Stefan's neck and clings to him, giggling girlishly, dark eyes dancing with mirth at his playfulness. She loves seeing him act so casual and carefree for once, blissfully ignorant of the churning beneath the surface.

"No, that sounds fine. I'm good with getting out of the sun soon." Pausing briefly in consideration, she adds wryly, "Tch, that was such a good chance to make a remark about rather seeing some fireworks in private, but everything sounded too corny even in my head."

"I leave an opening to make a suggestive comment and you don't take it," he muses. "There's a first time for everything."

Impulsively, he drops her in the water, then takes off running for the shore.

Katherine half-expected yet another dunking as it's been something of a theme during this little outing, so this time it doesn't come so much as a surprise. Which means she's up and chasing after Stefan fairly quickly in the water. This is a role reversal - usually she's the one being chased. A quick check to make sure nobody is watching, and she's catching up to him thanks to unfairly using a touch of vampire speed. On impulse, she launches herself at his back (carefully so as not to actually tackle him), clinging to his shoulders and attempting to wrap her legs around him.

"Don't make me topple you in the water," she gets out in between peals of laughter. She could do it too, Stefan, she's stronger.

Stefan relents, laughing in surrender as he slows to a walk, the water now about knee-deep and quickly becoming shallower. He doesn't shrug her off, but instead hooks his arms under her legs to help support her weight, carrying her out of the water on his back.

"You win."

Slipping her hands down his shoulders, Katherine wraps her arms around his neck from behind and leans her front more fully against his back, evidently not in a big hurry to go anywhere.

"As always, Stefan," she murmurs in his ear, the satisfied smile evident in her tone. "As always."

She follows up the statement with a gentle, brief nip of her teeth to his earlobe, just because she can.

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

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