st_oriedqueen: (bored)
Regina Mills ([personal profile] st_oriedqueen) wrote in [community profile] strangetrip2017-10-06 01:18 pm

[GP] All we can do is learn to swim

Grief is like the ocean; it comes on waves ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim. - Vicki Harrison

"You're sure?" Regina already knew the answer but demanding that Sam tell her what she already knew satisfied something petty in her. Or maybe just something hurt that hoped he'd have a different answer than her locator spell had already provided.

"Yeah." Sam half-rolled his eyes at her as he leaned across the pink bar counter to grab bottles of beer from the Silver Bar ice bin -- probably the results of Rebekah's last work-effort at the Inn -- for himself and his newly arrived companion.

Briefly, Regina considered burning a hole in the seat of his jeans, but it wouldn't bring Rebekah or any of the absent ones back. Instead, she took refuge in straightening her A-line and walking around the stylish counter Sam lay across like he was surfing the waves of grief. She took down a bottle of pointlessly pricey champagne, and then found the precise cut-crystal glasses Rebekah and Miss Fisher had preferred for their afternoon indulgences. She poured herself a glass and one for the person who dared her openly bitter expression.

"So who all are we missing?" they both said at once, glared at each other and sighed. They both knew the answers, in their own way and for their own reasons. And neither of them wanted to say.

Rebekah Mikaelson. Henry Winchester. Jack Robinson. Phryne Fisher. Dorothy Williams. Angua von Uberwald. Jaime Vegas. Harry Dresden. Lydia Martin. Raleigh Becket. Yasmeen. Joanna Beauchamp. Constance Bonacieux D'Artagnan. Lindsey McDonald.

"Grief is like the ocean," Sam clearly quoted from some fucking where, and Regina tuned him out until he added, "All we can do is learn to swim. Rebekah told me that."

Now Regina rolled her eyes; they weren't friends. "Shut up, Sam."
st_raighttovampire: (Bourbon)

[personal profile] st_raighttovampire 2017-10-06 08:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Caroline stalked into the bar not too much later. If she'd been a cat, her tail would have been lashing back and forth, her fur sleek and her ears laid back. She'd seen the "check out" list on the front desk and she was in need of a drink.

She didn't bother with a glass, just picked up a bottle of whiskey, the same brand the Salvatore brothers preferred in the boarding house, twisted off the top and drank deeply.

Rebekah was gone. It was fucked up to miss someone you hated.

Lindsey was gone. Caroline didn't even know how to classify the feelings she was having around that.

She grabbed another bottle for good measure and dropped into one of the pink wing-backed chairs.
Edited 2017-10-06 22:19 (UTC)
st_everybodylives: (Default)

[personal profile] st_everybodylives 2017-10-07 02:34 am (UTC)(link)
"That is a look I think I understand." River was in another wing-backed chair not too far away, but she had tea instead of whisky.

She was very British sometimes. She would miss Henry. But of course missing people was somewhat normal for her, so she knew it would pass soon enough and he would be a pleasant memory.

"Scone?" She offered the plate to the blonde.
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[personal profile] st_raighttovampire 2017-10-08 04:43 am (UTC)(link)

Caroline considered the damage that carbs would do to her not yet sufficient inebriation and decided it was minimal. "Sure." She took the scone, then gave River a small nod. "Thank you."

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[personal profile] st_everybodylives 2017-10-08 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh don't thank me," River chuckled and shook her head. "I cleaned out the bakery when I discovered that the woman who made them was gone. I am essentially a one woman scone monopoly at the moment."

So she had plenty to share, obviously this meant thanks were unnecessary as sharing one was hardly a hardship.

"Trade for a bit of that," she nodded at the bottle. "In my tea."
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[personal profile] st_raighttovampire 2017-10-09 05:13 pm (UTC)(link)

Caroline shrugged and tipped some of her bottle into River's cup. "That was smart. We're going to be short on pastries unless someone else wants to take up the role. I don't know if anyone else bakes. Ignis and Carlos cook, but they left the baking to Dot."

Her brain wanted to start planning, but she knew that if she let it, it would begin to wonder about bartending schedules and how to keep the horses. And then things would hurt. She drank more instead.

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[personal profile] st_everybodylives 2017-10-09 11:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'm not sure anyone needed as many cookies as that young woman baked." There were any number of them in the freezer, along with cakes and pies and an assortment of other goodies.

"I think the novelty of a real 'American refrigerating machine'," that last bit was a direct quote from Dot but there was no sarcasm in River's voice. "May have pushed her over the edge. Modern marvels freezers and she made use of ours."

River wasn't much of a planner, more of a figure out where you needed to go and leap for it sort. She sipped her alcohol laced tea.

"Should I ask who you lost?"
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[personal profile] st_raighttovampire 2017-10-17 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"No one important." Just a guy she'd like more than she should have and a girl that she'd hated for being the only piece of home here. "I'm just thinking about all the roles we're going to have to fill now. Have you noticed that the staff is doing less these days?"

Lies, but Caroline wasn't in a sharing mood. She was in a drinking to forget mood. "How about you? Anyone you've lost?"
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[personal profile] st_everybodylives 2017-10-17 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
"I still have a ready supply of towels so I hadn't noticed," River admitted with a half smile.

"And there was a man, blushed a lovely shade when teased. I'll miss him." Not what could have been, because that way lay madness.
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[personal profile] st_raighttovampire 2017-10-17 07:24 pm (UTC)(link)

"They're good at the towels. It's the other stuff." Caroline had a list, and had seen how when a guest took on a task, the staff would cease doing it. She didn't know if they'd pick it back up with the guests gone. Something told her it wouldn't. "I'm sorry. A lot of good people went home this time."

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[personal profile] st_everybodylives 2017-10-17 07:39 pm (UTC)(link)
"Well, I can't bake but if there's anything that needs doing you're welcome to see if I can mange it." River mostly didn't have a job, she kept busy but she also had experience just existing without too much on the to do list. prison could be like that, her adventures with the Doctor not withstanding.

"Do we assume they went home?" River isn't entirely sure where home would be at the moment, but she knows it is an important idea for many people.
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[personal profile] st_raighttovampire 2017-10-17 07:42 pm (UTC)(link)
"Assuming they went home keeps me from running screaming into the night," Caroline answered after another long pull from her whiskey bottle. "Really, who knows where they've gone. Maybe the Other Side. Maybe they're in Limbo. Maybe we're all dead like on Lost."

She was. Dead, that is. But she'd been dead for years and weirdly better off for it.
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[personal profile] st_everybodylives 2017-10-17 08:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Really dead didn't really mean anything to River, nor did Lost for that matter. She'd met any number of dead people.

"I hadn't considered that this might be some sort of holding place for souls in flux, I've mostly been leaning toward it being some sort of experiment with us as the mice."
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[personal profile] st_raighttovampire 2017-10-17 09:25 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's possible too. Or a curse. Does it really matter? We can't leave." She held out the whiskey. "Want some more?"

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[personal profile] st_andingtall 2017-10-17 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
As much as Sam wanted to retreat, hide, lick his wounds, there was no Rebekah to call to comfort him this time. No Henry to remind him that things often turned out different than they seemed or distract him with magic. And River would doubtless have some perfectly logical or logical-to-River reason she shouldn't leave him alone, anyway.

He caught Caroline drinking deep from a bottle of whiskey and envied her that choice. Maybe he should take a bottle and hide out in Rebekah's room. Rebekah's old room. He sighed and half-muttered, "I should know better by now," to himself.

Meeting himself halfway on the desire, he grabbed a bottle of whiskey for himself and sat near Caroline. "She never told me how you knew each other," he said, with two intentions. One, hopefully to learn more about Rebekah, another piece of her to keep close to him. Two, to see if he could satisfy his own suspicions about how they knew each other. The Inn didn't seem to do casual acquaintances.
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[personal profile] st_raighttovampire 2017-10-17 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
"She slept with my ex." And Caroline had slept with her brother. There was no bitterness in either thought, maybe she was growing up. Or maybe the whiskey was doing its job. She gave Sam a small sympathetic smile, "I'm sorry she's gone. She seemed happy with you."
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[personal profile] st_andingtall 2017-10-17 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
She slept with my ex didn't mean anything, not really, and it certainly wasn't worth the pang in his chest for something Rebekah had done before he met her. The thing was, it meant that Caroline and Rebekah had traveled in the same circle long enough for Rebekah not only to sleep with Caroline's ex but for Caroline to know about it. Couple that with the alcohol and the fact Rebekah had steadfastly not mentioned Caroline, it gave Sam pause.

"I think she felt safe with me. Like she could stop worrying about being an Original and just be Rebekah." There. If Caroline knew the world, she'd know he knew and know what he knew. If she didn't, then she probably wasn't a vampire and it was just an odd turn of phrase.
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[personal profile] st_raighttovampire 2017-10-17 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Caroline had a lot of practice not reacting when people said vampire-adjacent things. It didn't mean she was good at it. Her lids blinked a little too rapidly for a moment, and she immediately took another drink. He had to know what it meant, calling Rebekah an Original. "I think she was trying to do that pretty much as long as I've known her. She was obsessed with being just like everyone else. Fitting in."

Like compelling her way onto Caroline's cheerleading squad and dance committees. Like hooking up with the most normal guys in the world - Stefan first, a hundred years ago. Matt, two years ago. Trying to get the cure.

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[personal profile] st_andingtall 2017-10-17 11:56 pm (UTC)(link)
"I think she's been trying to do it most of her 'life'," Sam replied, the air quotes around 'life' completely audible if you had reason to be listening for them the way he was now positive Caroline did. He'd almost said 'death' but if they were overheard, that might put Caroline in danger and he didn't want that.

"Kinda hard on her diet. But having someone to lean on helped." This was the stupidest code conversation, seriously. But it'd be dumb as hell to ask Caroline outright if she had a foodsource. She must. She'd been here for months.
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[personal profile] st_raighttovampire 2017-10-18 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
Caroline bit her lip. Regina had offered. Now with Lindsey gone, she might not have a choice but to take her up on it. Damn, she should have started the blood bank when they'd discussed the issue the first time.

"She had a way of making people see things her way." And no one here kept themselves topped up on vervain. She set down her bottle on a side table and leaned forward. "Sam, why are you talking to me?"
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[personal profile] st_andingtall 2017-10-18 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
"She did." That would be the Compulsion. "But she never had to with me." Hopefully Caroline wouldn't try it. Rebekah had explained about vervain but it was a sign of his trust in her that he didn't use it.

Which didn't precisely answer the question Caroline had put to him. Why was he talking to her? "I guess, because you look upset. And I didn't think you and Bex were that close. So I wondered if it was the person you were...leaning on, because then you might be scared, too."
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[personal profile] st_raighttovampire 2017-10-18 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
Caroline looked involuntarily over toward Regina, who had offered before. She was also the only other person in the Inn that Caroline trusted to know everyone. Rebekah had trusted Sam, that much was clear. But Rebekah was basically unkillable. Caroline was a lot more fragile by contrast.

She could brazen this out. "I'm upset about Rebekah. She was the only person here from home, even if we didn't really get along." But as much as she was wary of Sam, he was hardly the most dangerous thing in this conversation. "But she's not the only one I'm upset is gone. And...yeah, things will be harder without hi--them."
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[personal profile] st_andingtall 2017-10-18 06:02 am (UTC)(link)
Regina had, as Regina did, been watching her people deal with their grief, ready to help if she saw a way that she could. The compassion of providing comfort didn't come naturally to her, but she had a lot of grief-giving to make up for. So if she felt discomfort, so be it. The people in this Inn were her responsibility, whether they knew it or not.

Caroline, however, was her responsibility a little more directly, and she'd been concerned that her blood donor might be among the fourteen. So when she saw Sam approach her, she took note but gave them the courtesy of not casting a listening spell. Her gaze was still on them when Caroline glanced up and over at her, and Regina smiled small and nodded as minutely. It's okay, along with a touch of an invitation to come talk to her if she needed.

Sam caught the direction of Caroline's gaze but didn't turn to see who she'd looked at. What she was saying mattered more than who was behind him, as long as they weren't close enough to hear.

"It doesn't have to be," he said low and quietly reassuring. "I'll help."
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[personal profile] st_raighttovampire 2017-10-18 06:07 am (UTC)(link)
Caroline started to ask why, then remembered where they were. Instead, she focused on Sam, her gaze a lot more sober than she wanted to be. "Can we talk somewhere else?" Regina's nod had been reassuring, but Caroline wasn't taking chances with anyone else overhearing. There were a lot of people in the bar today, pretty much all for the same reason.
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[personal profile] st_andingtall 2017-10-18 06:14 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah. Of course." He'd have suggested it before now, but she'd always been pretty wary of him. Public had some built in protection for her (and him, although he had no reason to think he'd need it), and dumb as it was to think it about a vampire, Sam wanted her to feel safe. He stood. "Wherever you want."
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[personal profile] st_raighttovampire 2017-10-18 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
Caroline grabbed the bottle and stood, waiting for Sam to do the same before she headed toward the door back to the lobby and eventually to the back offices. No one went there but Regina, Caroline and the staff so it was a good place to talk.

She shut the door behind them, then with a toss of her hair and a stubborn lift of her chin, leaned against the desk and folded her arms. "Do you really know what you're saying?" she asked bluntly.

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