Who: Caroline Forbes and Octavia Blake What: Random Encounter Where: UCI Campus When: Friday Morning Warnings: N/A Status: Closed, Complete
It was one of those days it seemed like the world was completely against her. She’d spilled her coffee, and had to change her clothes before she left that house. At least it happened before she left. But then she was late to class. And she was totally unprepared for the pop quiz,and to make matters worse her pencil lead broke and she just knew she’d bombed the quiz anyway.
She sighed and headed out, debating what she wanted to do for lunch. She made the mistake of digging in her purse while she walked which was always a recipe for disaster. Especially when she ended up dropping her cell phone and her keys on the sidewalk just as someone was walking toward her from the opposite direction.
*** With being a vampire Caroline kept a cooler full go blood bags in her car. She usually drank enough in the morning to keep her satisfied throughout the day, but she preferred to be safe. The last thing she wanted to do was starve herself and end up losing control going in for a little human snack. Today was no different than most, although it was one of the rare days where she actually didn’t have plans to meet up with friends at lunch time so she figured she might as well go to her car for a quick refreshment.
As she made her way back through the campus, she spotted a girl who had just dropped her phone and keys. With vampire reflexes Caroline swiftly picked them up, holding them out for the girl. “I think you dropped these,” because you know, might as well state the obvious.
***
Octavia looked at the young woman for a moment. She was a knock out. She was really beautiful, and it was all Octavia could do not to stare. She finally reached out to take the things from her, and nodded with a slightly awkward smile.
“You ever have one of those days where nothing seemed to go your way?” Octavia shrugged. She stuffed the wallet back into her purse, then the keys. “I’m having that kind of day.”
***
Caroline got a little self conscious feeling the girl’s eyes on her. Did she have some blood on her face or something? But then she smiled so it probably wasn’t that. Caroline nodded, she’d definitely had one of those days. It mostly happened when she overslept, usually thanks to dreams but she wasn’t about to go into that much detail. “Ugh I totally know what you mean,” she replied. “Have you gotten coffee? That usually helps.”
***
“Coffee would be a godsend right now,” Octavia said. Even though it was midday, she could probably use the boost. Or maybe because it was midday. The caffeine would probably help her perk up, and put her crappy morning behind her.
“I’m sorry. I’m not usually rattled like this,” she shrugged. “I had a dream last night that just kind of threw me off and I’m still trying to make sense of it.”
***
Oh, a dream. That certainly caught Caroline’s attention. She knew that not everyone she met had weird dreams like she did. Although it did seem like most of the people in her life were dreamers, minus her mom. Whether this girl was a dreamer or not Caroline knew that bad dreams definitely meant coffee.
“I was actually thinking of getting a latte before my next class,” she replied her way of inviting the brunette to join her as she started to walk in the direction of one the on campus cafes. “What kind of dream?” she couldn’t help but ask curious to know more.
***
Octavia didn’t hesitate to follow right along. She was happy to have made a friend. At least she hoped this was a friendship starting. She didn’t have many friends anymore, and she missed having someone to talk to.
“Weird dreams. Like, I don’t know how to explain it. Unless you’re familiar with the Valarnet? There’s a lot of people who have weird dreams on there.”
***
Well that just confirmed Caroline’s suspicions. She was a dreamer, pretty much everyone on Valarnet was, especially if they were talking about weird dreams.
“Yeah,” Caroline said as they reached the cafe. “I’m on there. Trust me I know all about weird dreams.” And what they could do, but she wasn’t going to get into that just yet. “I’m Caroline,” she added just in case this girl had seen her post before or vice versa.
***
“I’m Octavia. So far, I’m living on a space ship. With my brother and my mother. And it’s...not a good situation.” She sighed. There was still so much she didn’t know, more questions than answers in her dreams.
“It just started. But I’m already looking for ways to make it stop. Because I’m really not sure I want to know what’s going to happen.”
***
“Are you like an alien?” She knew you could be human and be on a space ship. Astronauts, duh. But given how the dreams work she wouldn’t be surprised if this girl was an alien.
“I know what you mean,” Caroline replied as they got in line. “I wish there was a way to keep the dreams from happening. They can be pretty horrible.”
***
“I..don’t know. Honestly.” Octavia looked down. “I just know I’m on a space ship. And I have to be hidden away if anyone comes to the cabin. It’s...confusing, right now. I want more dreams so I can understand it all, but I don’t want the dreams because...well. Because I know it can’t be good.”
She sighed. The dreams were confusing at best. Disorienting. And all too real.
*** Well that definitely sounded confusing. “Maybe they’ll get better,” Caroline suggested as they moved up in line a bit. She knew it wasn’t likely that they got better. Dreams only seemed to get worse. But still she tried to stay positive, have hope and look on the bright side. “I hope you at least get to figure things out soon.
***
Octavia nodded. “I figure I should get some answers, sooner or later.” She really hoped so. “It’s frustrating to feel like I’m living two separate lives.” But then, it seemed most everyone on the Valarnet felt that way.
It was her turn to order, so she turned away to say what she wanted, then stepped back to let Caroline up to the register.