(catch-all) the storm & the st. paddy's day festival

[officialnotice]

CATCH-ALL: 16TH & 17TH

march 16

THE THUNDER ROLLS

The day starts off atmospherically heavy. The clouds are low, and the temperature is unusually warm, settling in the mid to high 50s (teens in Celsius). Townies are wandering around town in lightweight jackets and hoodies making small talk about the unusual weather, but for the most part they're pleased with the warmth, even if the clouds off in the distance look rather ominous. As the day goes on, the clouds creep closer and the residents seem more inclined to get a roof over their heads and stay there. The midmorning news predicts heavy rainfall by the late afternoon, but the savvier townsfolk say it’s going to be worse than that.

They’re not wrong. The sun drops low, and the winds start to pick up, howling through the trees, bringing with them nickel-size chunks of hail and torrential rains. The darker the night gets, the worse the storm hits Wayward Pines; by the time the sun has set, the sky is obscured with opaque, swirling clouds, the winds snapping trees in half, rattling the power lines, causing electricity to flicker and sometimes go out. The hail pings against the cars not safely parked inside garages, leaving the more exposed with significant damage to paint and windows, and anyone brave (or stupid) enough to step outside is instantly soaked to the skin in cold rain.

The most chilling thing of all isn’t the rain. Anyone trying to wait the weather out on Main Street will hear three wrenching cries coming from the woods, almost like the exact moment a person shreds their vocal cords in a scream. The townies claim not to hear anything unusual. It’s just the wind, they say, and they may be right. The sound as it shrieks through the trees and between buildings is similar enough to cast doubt, and combined with the rain even the most experienced camper would likely get lost trying to find it.

march 17

THERE’S WHISKEY IN THE JAR, OH

Whatever damage was caused by the previous night’s storm has mostly been cleared from Main Street by the early morning of St Patrick's Day. The streets are still a little wet, with plenty of puddles for the more adventurous children (and adults) to splash around in. The air is still a little chilly, but nothing a sweatshirt can’t fix. Nothing’s fully set up until about nine in the morning, but when it is, the St. Patty’s Day celebration gets under way. It’s small, more of a farmers' market or small festival than anything major. There’s food stalls and tables for eating, as well as a few booths where townsfolk are plying their crafts and non-food wares, as well as live music. The festivities during the daylight hours are pretty tame, a PG-rated good time for all.

When the sun sets, the party gets a little more rowdy. Someone busts out the booze and someone else busts out the Mardi Gras beads, and the music gets louder. While many food stalls are still open, the rest have shut down as the street fills with revelers, many of them holding cups half-filled with beer or something a little stronger. This part of the party isn’t for kids, and if anyone underage is spotted they'll quickly get escorted back home by the police — so try not to get caught, yes?

MOD NOTES

This is a catch-all for any and all threads pertaining to the storm (March 16th) and the St. Patrick's Day festival (March 17th)! Details on both of these happenings can be found in the March Newsletter.

PLEASE INCLUDE IN SUBJECT LINE: Character Name, which Day(s) your top-level takes place in, and Open or Closed, to help keep things a bit more organized. (For example: "Joe Biden | 16th & 17th | Open!")

Should you choose to participate in both mini-events, you're welcome to make separate top-level posts for each day or to combine them both into one.

If you have any questions regarding this event, feel free to ask them here.

Comments

[unforgivably]

[ Again, Damon's not touching that one. He knows Stefan's sex life might be the more vanilla of the two, but Stefan has his moments. It's not something they discuss, or something he cares about.

The thing is, Damon could have a semi-public fling out here. And, were it not Katherine Pierce offering, he could take her up on it. But this is Katherine Pierce. Truces don't mean water under any bridge. He knows this Katherine isn't the one that left them with a mess to clean up, but he knows this Katherine, like any Katherine would just be settling for him.

And wouldn't that push him into her arms that much more.

Elena stops him. Elena will always stop him. ]

I saw sandbags. We could toss a few of those. There's a band - semi-secluded if you include the shade above them. Or, did you mean Parcheesi, because I left our board games at home, honey. [ He leans in, voice low. ] I wouldn't entertain you if it were my job. This is an arrangement. We agreed to play the part. We're separate bedrooms. Act like it.

[ It's cold.

But, he can be cold.

And in this day of weirdness, learning one of his friends is out on his ass, and making a break through with Malia, he's not interested. Not in her. He leans back, his smile returning. ] It's nothing personal, Katherine.

[ But. It is. ]

[abetment]

[ She teases, she jokes, she's open about their histories, mutual and separate. She's Katherine: there are no rules, and all's fair in this life. There are no expectations for Damon to reply again about Stefan's sex life, and they both must know that, right?

At first, it's as if he's being lighthearted right back, going along with it. Even the melodramatic inflections and word choices have her smirking. Then, well, his voice drops. There is it. Most of the brightness leaves her face, replaced by disdain, beads gathering up into her hand as she makes a fist. She considers cracking them, but stops the pressure around what's, honestly, a piece of trash. Her chin lifts, head angling slightly down as she loops it around her neck, twice. ] Of course it isn't, Damon.

[ Only then, those words spoken, wearing the stupid beads she actually gave a shit about, does she takes two steps back. Fuck, she needs to find someone else to wrap her attention (maybe herself) around who's 200% less unkind. ]

You know I was just trying to have some fun. When did you stop knowing how to do that? [ Her head shakes in disappointment, lips parted. Was it after Elena finally admitted to being in love with him, too? ] Really? It's a serious question. [ Congratulations, Damon, you managed to crush Katherine Pierce's spirit. Relish in it: she won't be down for long. She never is.

She sighs, forced and more of a huff than anything, trying to regather the constitution that, before his barrage of rejecting words, felt solid, in fully swing. ] But, I guess if we're going to successfully act this part, I guess it'll look more June and Ward Cleaver and less, well, take your pick of any real relationship. Ever. [ Is her TV reference ridiculous enough for you, to match that set of examples from you, Damon? Her eyes dance down. When did she start caring about whether or not Damon actually cares about or wants her, on any level? ] Is that really all you want? Me manipulating everyone around us and never actually asking for even one thing I might actually want from you? [ As if he hasn't already been cold enough, she throws that question out at him. It's not a smart idea, and she knows it, but she doesn't care. She wants him to have to answer.

At least they have the music and general drunken merriment to drown out the volume of their words. Otherwise, this could look an awful lot like a fight. ]

[unforgivably]

[ Damon is nothing if not consistent. He vacillates between tolerating and hating Katherine Pierce. This has always been true. She throws herself at him, he throws her off the bed - so to speak. Into another bedroom, anyway. It's more about Elena for the both of them. A subject Damon isn't willing to explore and Katherine avoids altogether. It is and it isn't personal. Their shared history, tumultuous, passionate, and torrid, gives color to their bond in this town, but the wrongs she's committed (and those she's only learned about, never done herself) keep everything into perspective. She played too close to the fire, she flew too close to the sun. There's a careful balance their relationship can handle from Damon's side.

And she crossed it.

They both know the two of them know fun. They are fun. ]

I gave you something. [ His words are harsh, they're under breath, and his finger comes up. He doesn't mean to leverage Nadia. His hand forms a fist next, but he brings his arm down. This Damon is different than the one she remembers. The Damon she remembers loved a girl who loved his brother (and loved him, but it'd take her years to admit it). This Damon shows compassion and exudes guilt he carries with him, like the coffin Elena currently lies in. ] When my future with Elena was stopped short everything stopped. [ If he's honest with her. The feeling of giving up creeps up his spine, his mind rewriting his goodbye note to Bonnie all over again. ] Fun lost meaning. I know you believe in your heart that I'll always love Elena and Elena will always love Stefan, but she chose me Katherine. [ He points to himself, he points to her. It's all very Italian in his gestures. ] You were right. She loved us both. And I was picked. I got the girl. Elena isn't dead, she's sleeping because a sociopath man child decided to get back at my best friend.

[ That frantic quality to his voice lessens, his voice staying low. The ice cold tone is dead and gone, and he's not proud he brought that Damon out. ]

I'm not the one who wants two much from this partnership. And I'm sorry I can't give it my all, but if there's even a chance Stefan and me make it back there, or Elena god forbid ends up here, I can't let my one mistake be Katherine Pierce. I loved you for over a hundred years. You came back for Stefan. [ He draws in a shaky breath. ] I don't want to hurt you. And if Elena were here, we'd - I don't know, think of something, but she's not and we beat the odds and married each other. You love my brother. I love Elena. I'll play along, Katherine. I will be married. I will be the acerbic, but charming husband.

[ Does he have to say it? ]

Sleeping with you, entertaining you as you coyly put it, at all, betrays Elena.

[ Revelry or not, this is a very public fight. He can't hide it. They should walk away, have it out in the alley, or at their home. But feelings can't be bottled up forever.

Damon has been in denial. His heart was ripped out two weeks ago when Elena wasn't Elena and he's only now realizing how that affected him. ]

I didn't mean what I said before. I'm frustrated. I'm tired. I don't get this. [ He just gestures around, really riding the line at this point. ] I could handle seventy, eighty years without her, but there are no guarantees here. [ And do not dare scare him with the idea that everything there is the lie. Because every day new memories crop up and make him doubt himself a little more. ] We can't do what you wanted to do, not because I wouldn't, but because I can't. Not to her, Katherine.

[abetment]

[ Ouch. That makes her head start to shake, just barely, lips starting to frown. He doesn't linger on the idea of hurting her, though.

This town is full of surprises, which Katherine doesn't say out loud because she has more grace than to be flippant with this conversation. Damon's explanation is long, but it seems that it needs to be.

It shocks her to the core to have him say that Elena actually chose between them. Does that explain the air to Stefan's attitude? He lost the girl; or, had the girl stolen, depending on how one wants to view it. Katherine hasn't lived to see any of this play out, but she knows how many angles such a simple circumstance can spun.

Her chin lifts when he includes just what's going on with Elena, for him, right now. That, that explains everything. Damon Salvatore, the obsessive brother who spent nearly his entire lifespan as a vampire searching for the long lost woman he was in love with, never able to give up. Hope crushed when he discovered she hid herself from him, from Stefan, all those years. Damon, the brother who loved so hard and fell so far, hardly entirely from his own doing. That he loves so deeply, that he's had that love returned, it's no wonder that losing her, even temporarily, caused his life to crumble out from under him. And, Katherine is a nasty bitch a lot of the time, but she knows love when she sees it in someone's eyes; she believes him, that Elena chose him.

She listens, eyes attentive, reactions muted for his sake.

Relaying information about the girl they both know she loves to hate, his feelings about Elena, can only go on for so long. Surprise rushes over her face, brows rising when he goes on instead of walks away. Damon not being the 'maim, insult and stalk away' sort is definitely...something. He discusses this situation. Maturely. It's surprising. Yet relieving. Details about herself, those sting, but it's not the first she's heard them. This? It's a conversation Damon clearly needed to get out.

Katherine bounces back quicker than she would've thought. Once Damon speaks so candidly, the ache from how he affronted her rolls away. She likes honesty, and... ] You're right, Damon. [ She licks over her lips, eyes glancing down for a hot second, lashes heavy before she looks back to his face. Hands rising, palms racing him, her head jerks to the side. ] I didn't know. You know I didn't know. If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn't be acting like this. We both know I play harder and, well, act more psychotic bitch than flirting in public to try to get you in a dark corner.

[ She draws in a breath. ] I won't try to ask again then. Okay? At least, not seriously. [ A soft smile, a smirk, brows popping with it. ] Couples teasing each other in certain company. [ One shoulder shrugs slightly. ] It's the American way.

[ She steps back in, eyes almost shutting, coming in close but not making contact. ] I made a bad judgment call. I thought, well, you know what I thought. Obviously. [ And back again, head lifting, hair bouncing as she gives an idle shake with a glance out over the party. ] Some festivity then, huh? [ A beat, and she doesn't make eye contact until after she finishes. ] For the record? I wasn't planning on trying to go after Stefan here. Why shake and mar the reputation of the Salvatores here? [ A soft smile. Does she mean it? His guess is as good as anyone's.

Maybe she's come to mean it from this conversation. One Stefan isn't a part of, but how do the three of them exist in one place without being all twisted up. Maybe part of the ruse she wants to create actually doesn't involve cheating on her husband with his brother, her brother-in-law. Imagine that? Katherine does have class. ]

[unforgivably]

[ He knows then he was keeping this inside himself. That, he was dealing with his Katherine issue, when he really never had a Katherine issue. Dead, gone, or not, he dealt with it, moved on, got the girl and died. He found his way back to her, believed in their love enough and she gave him another chance. So much that he decided he'd take the cure with her. And, somehow, he still will. When Elena's awake, he'll take the cure. He'll join her in life as she lived, human.

He has no idea how accurate that belief would be, just how wrong he is with how everything shakes out. But, this is neither here nor there, and irrelevant to the matter at hand.

She's right. When she's scorned, she goes for the jugular. Nobody is safe. He nods slowly, to her, in response. ]

Teasing, I can deal with.

[ He knows they need to publicly make up, lest the scene they made be bigger news than it should be. ] I know.

[ It's why he made sure to show kindness. He'd stepped too far, way over the line. Apparently, now there's a line when it comes to Katherine. Everybody grows, it seems. ] He would. I think, if you hadn't died - he might've.

[ As a kindness, he wants to mention Caroline, to also mention what Caroline doesn't remember, but he's already said a lot. And it would be a lower blow to tell Katherine that she probably has no chance with him here because a girl Stefan's grown to love is here now, too. So, he gives her that.

His eyes search hers, they travel downward, hands delicately finding hers, stepping in. He raises them, fingers clasping hers as he initiates contact. ] We should probably make a show of making up. [ He leans in. ] That was quite the public blow out. And, [ He looks down. ] I'm not trying to say that it's only on my terms. I trust you here, Katherine. Physical affection. Gossip about my prowess. Idle comments. I think you've always been a good judge of what's necessary.

[ Even if it had been through twisted, twisted motives. ]

I don't want to hurt you, Katherine.

[abetment]

[ The cure sharing concept would truly baffle Katherine. Plus? She doesn't want to know just how literally this stupid substance affects or may affect the people in her life that she actually cares about. She cares about you, Damon.

She answers with a nod, grateful he understood what she meant with the teasing. It's what playful couples might do; definitely, it's what people who are confident and sure in their relationship do, such is her belief.

Oh, she gives a small huff of a laugh, the start of a sincere smile when he says that about Stefan. She thinks it's a phrase spoken from kindness (no, but who are they and how did they reach this point?), not knowing how kind he's actually being in not spouting off details about Caroline and Stefan's affections for one another. Ew.

A long sigh, lips pursing out the tiniest bit as emotion pangs at her with the contact. These moments need to stop happening. Ones where they're both vulnerable. Damon's always been emotional. Katherine's covered hers up. Being there, going through what she has, it's chipped away at who she is, and she wants to get it back. At least she covers the emotion well, in that moment. Any that bleeds out looks like the faint pain of a wife nearly crushed, a flash in her eyes.

Basically. This is them, setting ground rules. Sort of. Words she won't say. Rules, she doesn't like them. But, she nods. ] I can tell, Damon. Really. And, I know it sounds...crazy for me to say, but...I'll respect what you feel for her, and how it affects your life now. Who you are. I can't really get it, but I won't forget, or deny it, either. So, we'll talk each other up, like you said. [ She promises, without saying so. She squeezes his hand, having kept close too, leaning up, pressing a kiss to his jawline, whispering in his ear. ] You know I'm the best judge of how to get things done, in a way that works for me, Damon, and now [ another squeeze of his hand ] you too.