Caroline Forbes (agelessbeauty) wrote in wariscoming, @ 2014-12-30 20:46:00 |
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Entry tags: | camille o'connell, caroline forbes |
Who: Caroline and Cami
What: accidental meetups
Where: Marcel’s compound
When: mid-December
Rating/Status: PG/Complete
Caroline had intended to show Marcel the numerous ideas she had for the New Years Eve party that they were planning on throwing together. She’d been bouncing between one project and another, needing to keep busy so that her mind was too full to stray toward the parts that were worrying her. Everyone had said to talk to Klaus about her feelings and Caroline kept telling herself that she would do that. Except every time she nearly did she started talking about something else or threw herself into a new project. Maybe if she gave herself enough time she’d be able to bury the feelings deep enough that they wouldn’t bother her any longer. It probably wouldn’t work but she was going to give it her best try for as long as she could.
She couldn’t find Marcel though, silently berating herself for not having called ahead beforehand. Caroline didn’t really want to head back home, not with finals finished and her lack of having anything to do. She noticed Cami in one of the rooms and peeked her head in.
“Hey. Need any help?” With anything. God, she’d clean if she could since she definitely couldn’t do that back at her house. That’d definitely tip Klaus off that something was wrong.
~~~
Things here were… awkward, that was the best way to describe being here. Cami was a survivor and she’d make it through this place too. It was stupid, but she felt oddly rejected, it wasn’t fair to say that, or to think about it much, it was what it was and Cami just had to move on and forget anything that she might have felt or thought once upon a time, they didn’t live fairytale lives, they lived dark lives filled with death and pain. At least the death part hadn’t been so high since she came her.
She was lucky that she had Marcel’s compound to stay at, but she felt like things were just weird in general between everyone lately, that was probably her reading into things. She did have a problem with over thinking things sometimes, just sometimes though… Yeah right.
Sitting in one of the many rooms she was pretending to amuse herself by looking at some old records. Hearing a rather cheerful voice she turned towards the mostly open door. “Hey Caroline.” She said smiling slightly. “Have an opinion on old records?”
~~~
“I think it depends on what the records are of. Like some could be interesting and others are probably really boring.” It’d probably also depend on if she needed to look through them to figure something out or not. Stuff like that had happened before but Marcel’s old records didn’t really compare to looking through ones that she’d helped steal from the Vatican.
“Is there a reason you’re looking at them? Or are you just bored?” Because she had a feeling the other woman was the latter. People didn’t go around reading records for fun, did they? Well...unless they were like Belle, but Caroline didn’t think Cami shared Belle’s book obsession. Though maybe she did, it wasn’t as though she knew her all that well.
“Because I can help look for things. Nice thing about vamp speed is it applies to reading as well. Though I was always a pretty quick reader anyway.” Helped with maintaining her immaculate GPA while running a thousand different things at school.
~~~
It took Cami a moment to figure out what exactly Caroline was talking about. After she got it, she just started laughing. “No, not records. Records.” She said turning to pull a vinyl record out of a very dusty box, that really she could be pulling out family records or anything else to do with paperwork out of.
“You’re right though, I am going through it because of boredom, I don’t find myself as busy here as I did at home.” Cami said thinking back to the last few months, yeah a lot had happened. This place though? This place she just felt lost. “New Orleans is so filled with music all the time, I guess I was just trying to find something that connected me to that. The dust, the mold, the emotion built into every piece of music… Call me crazy, but I’ve been feeling a little homesick.” Cami said shrugging.
“But the next time I have to triple check inventory for a bar, I’m calling you to read it for me, It’ll save me a few hours I bet.” Cami said trying to be more open than she’d really allowed herself to be so far.
~~~
Caroline grinned and moved into the room to sit down near Cami. “Okay, but music records is a lot more interesting than what I thought you were doing. So you’re not as bored as you could be.” She understood the homesickness though. It still hit Caroline every so often, especially whenever she missed her mother. It wasn’t as bad as it had been because life had been crazy for her in Lawrence and having Elena, Bonnie and even Damon around helped it feel like she wasn’t really missing anything. Only her mother.
“It can be hard to acclimate to this place sometimes. Especially when people...don’t know you and you know them.” That had to make it significantly harder to know someone and have them not really have a clue who you were. Figuring out how to act around them had to be difficult. “You kinda just need to like put yourself out there and work at meeting people which can also be tough but its worth it in the end.” Usually.
“Have you thought of visiting New Orleans here? We went during the summer for a week and it was amazing to see. It probably wouldn’t be the same but maybe it’d help some.” Or it could just make everything worse.
~~~
Cami laughed. "Oh, god, if I were actually looking out random old records, I'd start to really worry about myself." Cami said shrugging. If it were research for something sure, but if was for being bored? There would be something really wrong with her. Really wrong. "I'd be worried."
It was nice that Caroline was trying to help, it really was, but Cami kind of didn't feel like it was that she wasn't putting herself out there. She worked at two bars, she'd met some people, but she wasn't really letting people in. It was difficult, she missed the connections she had at home, and it was hard having to let go, but she was trying to manage it. Cami just nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, it's complicated." That was an understatement, but hey she was getting along with Rebekah which was surprising on its own.
"You know, I thought about it, but it'd be weird not being able to visit…" She paused. "My brother and uncles graves." She was a family person at heart, it'd be weird. "But it might be worth it just to see how different it is."
~~~
Caroline could see not being able to visit loved one’s graves being difficult. It was one of the reasons she was grateful that Mystic Falls didn’t exist in this world. Going there and not being able to see her father wouldn’t be something she’d want to do. Going there and not being able to see her mother wasn’t something she could even really imagine being possible.
“So do you want to keep looking at these intriguing records or do you want to maybe get out of here for a while?” And do what she wasn’t exactly sure just yet. There was going for a drink or shopping or even just heading out for a walk but Caroline wasn’t made for simply sitting around. She was currently in her go go go mood and being idle wasn’t going to work for her.
It didn’t seem to be working for Cami either so offering company outside of the house seemed like the logical thing to do.
~~~
Laughing a little bit Cami nodded. “No, I think the records are still going to be here when I can’t sleep some night.” Cami didn’t add that it was pretty much every night here, but she didn’t need to bring down the mood, if there was really any. She nodded dropping the one she’d been holding back up as a ton of dust came flying out at her. Sneezing with a small cough she stepped away. “And I’ll need a duster next time I attempt this.” She added.
“So!” Cami said clasping her hands together. “Anything in mind, or just get out?” She asked. “I never turn down going for a drink, but maybe not Bed of Roses, I spend a lot of time there, could use seeing something new.” Cami loved that place, but she’d been there for more than she cared to admit when working or not working… She needed to see other places.
“Got anywhere you like?” She added.
~~~
“Bed of Roses is kinda the go-to place for me because of Lexi and Lee, but Purgatory works well. I don’t think its open this early though. Neither is Vex’s.” And she wasn’t quite sure that Vex’s place was one that Cami would like going to. “There’s also the Roadhouse. Where we get free drinks because we’re displaced. So that’s always a good one. But this is a college town so there’s tons of random bars to head to all over the place.”
She knew where the majority of them were located because of her college status but was wondering if a drink was really what the two of them needed. “But how do you feel about art? Like paintings and sculptures and things of that nature? Because the local art museum is decent and we could always get coffee and head there. I used to volunteer there so I’ve got an in.”
Not to mention a lot of the charity events that she organized were held there so she knew practically everyone on the board as well as the everyday workers.
~~~
"Yeah, Working there is great, but sometimes seeing other things out there is nice." Cami said shrugging. She wasn't sure how often a vampire turned down drinking, but she had a feeling it had more to do with it being around Cami than it did an actual drink or not. She made a point not to show any emotion on her face and just shrugged a little bit with a half smile.
"I've always appreciated art." She said smiling just a little, she had a feeling that art would bring up memories she probably would rather not think about, but Caroline was clearly trying and she wasn't going to say no to the kind gesture. She just wasn't.
"I could go for the art museum and some coffee." She added nodding her head a little
~~~~
“Okay, perfect. I know the perfect little cafe. It’s actually right near the art museum which makes it really convenient.” Caroline grinned, already heading toward the door. “They make a really good cup of coffee and even better scones. They come in a whole bunch of different flavors.”
She stopped, turning back to look at Cami. “Do you want to take one car or drive separate? The whole separate cars makes a lot of sense because then afterward we can like go do whatever it is we need to do.” Though considering she was looking for distractions and Cami had been going through old records there was probably nothing either of them had to do. It was the practical thing to do though, most likely be less awkward in the end.
“You can just follow me or I can give you directions. Or does your phone do GPS?”
~~~~
"Great." Cami said nodding her head following Caroline. "I just need to get my wallet from my room." Cami added, she just had the key to her room in her pocket, she hadn't actually been expecting to go anywhere today. She knew that she should talk to someone else about her feelings but talking to people from her world was just not an option in the same way it had been. "As long as they don't try and get me to try poinsettia flavored stuff, I think we're good." She said with a smirk.
"I don't have a car yet, but I can take the bus and meet you there, or we can go together and I can take the bus back." Cami said sort of matter of fact. Mostly she took public transportation or walked most places. She also tended to get a number of rides from co-workers, which usually helped her out a lot. She didn't mind taking the bus really, it wasn't the fastest thing, but it worked.
~~~
Caroline hadn’t even considered the whole lack of car thing. She hadn’t had one when she first arrived either but being able to vamp speed most places had made using the public transportation obsolete. “I can drive you. So not a problem. And then I’ll bring you back here when we’re finished.” She had been the one to invite Cami out, it was only fair to give her a ride as well. “The bus from here to the campus will take like over an hour, if its running on time.” It usually was but every so often something could cause a delay.
“I didn’t know that you didn’t have a car and some people have a very need to have control over the steering wheel mentality. Or maybe that’s just me. And Klaus is kinda like that. Alpha male complex for him and Type A personality for me.” She shrugged, turning toward the door again and heading to open it for the two of them. “I’ve gotten way better about letting others pick the music though if they’re in the passenger seat.”
~~~~
"That'd be good, thanks." Cami said nodding, although she felt horrible about it for some reason. Probably because she wasn't sure how comfortable it would be sitting in her car, or maybe it was because she was just making up a lot of tension that wasn't really fair at all. "Yeah, you get used to getting places taking forever." Cami commented stopping herself from saying that humans tended to get used to things like that.
"Haven't really been here that long, guess haven't thought about saving enough for one yet." Cami said, although she was sure if she asked Marcel for help he'd help her, she just wanted to have some things to herself, stand on her own feet or some bullshit like that.
It was so stupid, but it felt like a slap to her about the Alpha male and Type A personality thing, she supposed she could see how that would work for Klaus, and she did want him to be happy to find the goodness she knew that was in him, and if Caroline brought that out in him who was she to feel anything negative, or jealousy about it? That would be selfish.
"As long as it's not jazz, I'm happy." Which was odd, she loved jazz, but right now it reminded her too much of home.
~~~
Caroline couldn’t help but lick her lips at the word jazz. She had a jazz cd in the stereo of her car at the moment but she’d make sure to switch it to the radio if it wasn’t already. Jazz equaled darkened clubs mixed with blood and Klaus’ arms around her as they tried to figure out who to feed from that night. It equaled her first ever ‘regular’, something she had never thought she would have but then she was growing into her vampire skin more and more as time passed in Lawrence. “Don’t worry, no jazz music. I’ll warn that my stations are pretty much all pop though.”
Partly because she’d been into it during her high school days--she had a few band shirts she wouldn’t acknowledge now back in her room in Mystic Falls--but also because they fit her personality a lot better than some others tended to. Caroline led Cami out to her car, a blue prius. “I don’t know if I’ve actually asked you how you know everyone.”
At least she couldn’t remember asking her. Her anxiety over learning about Hayley and Hope had made Caroline forgetful, not categorizing things like she usually did because she’d been unable to focus. “Or is that like one of those difficult things to talk about?”
She could see how it would be considering so many didn’t seem to know her.
~~~
“Pop’s fine with me.” Cami said easily as they made it out towards the rather practical car, for some reason Cami pictured Caroline driving a bug or something more festive and fun, but hey she had said she had a type A personality maybe that had something to do with it.
As Cami got into the car and buckled her seatbelt she took a moment to think if it was too difficult. “No, it’s fine.” Was it fine? Cami wasn’t really sure, but she also figured it would probably come out eventually how she knew everyone or how she fit into the picture. From the outside she could see how it wa weird that there was this random human girl involved in the insanity surrounding The Originals in New Orleans and what that meant.
“I…” She started as she thought how best to answer it. “I was in New Orleans because of my twin brother.” She started with a sad smile. “Turns out he was hexed by a crazy witch and he went crazy. I didn’t know about you know… The supernatural stuff for a while, but my Uncle was part of the human faction, or I guess led it until…” She didn’t need to say it or rather she couldn’t.
“So, I guess I know them from all that. I had a thing with Marcel for a little while, we’re still friends, and became friends with Davina and Josh. It’s good to see her doing so well here. Actually get to live a somewhat normal life, or I guess as normal as it can be for her.” With a wistful look she finally added. “And I became friends with Klaus, despite the fact that he completely used me at first and made me think I was going insane. We are friends.” There was so much to her emotions for that but that didn’t matter here and Cami knew she had to let it go. “I guess I’m just the token human bartender mixed in the storm of werewolves, hybrides, vampires and witches in New Orleans.” She did not feel the need to add in the latest of things, she had gotten to know Hayley better, and the whole insanity of Klaus’s mother and brothers coming back from the dead. She could skip that part she thought.
~~~
“I didn’t know about it all at first either. Not until I was turned into a vampire.” Or well, she had known about it and gotten it all compelled away and then had it rearing its ugly head back again because of her newfound vampirism. “My friend Matt is actually our token human that’s mixed up in all the supernatural drama in Mystic Falls. He was here before and his sister Vicki is here again. She’s a vampire though.”
She mulled over the rest of it. “Sorry about your brother. It’s kind of crazy how people can get pulled into the whole thing. Our human faction is called the Founder’s Council. My mom is on it. She’s pretty much it now for it I think. Though there could be some more Fells in it and I think I heard that Bonnie’s dad is on it.” As for the rest of what Cami had said...Caroline wasn’t all that surprised that Klaus had used anyone in New Orleans. It was how his knee jerk reaction for a lot of things and that wasn’t going to change overnight.
“I’m glad he’s making friends. Klaus, that is. He doesn’t always go about it in the best way. At all. He tries to just take, or at least he used to try to just take, but you don’t always get your way by trying to strongarm people. He was like that with me at first but he kinda realized that wasn’t working to get me to actually fall in love with him or just spend time with him.” She glanced over at Cami before parallel parking the car. “Have you talked to him much here?” She didn’t think that the other woman had. It was probably awkward to try and do since he didn’t know anything about the friendship. “Because its probably going to be kinda awkward but trying might help. Maybe it won’t be like the same as back home but it’ll be something?”
Caroline nodded toward the small cafe. “And we’re here.”
~~~
The day it became normal to have conversations and any level of relationship with a vampire as your day to day life, well that had to say something about her. What she didn’t know, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to trust anyone that she met like an advisor again, ever. Her level of trusting, she’d like to say she never would, but Cami wanted to see the good in people, it still every day drove her.
“Yeah, well, you get mixed up with it and you are stuck no getting out.” There was no saying goodbye and walking away, no more safety, and although she now didn’t hate her name, there was no happiness. There was the concept of hope, and that was worth fighting for.
It was more complicated than just friends, but Cami was never going to admit to any of that, to anyone. “Yeah. everyone deserves a friend.” She said believing every word of it, except maybe two people she could think of but that was a different story.
“No. I haven’t.” Cami admitted, there was a touch of sadness to her voice. “It’s better, for me, if I just try and live my life here whatever it is, and not worry too much about the past.” Cami smiled. “Besides, I’m not sure I’d ever get to explore cafe’s with you back home, so I’ll take that as a the good part of this world.” She said as she unbuckled her seatbelt.
~~~
Caroline understood that. People changed when they were in Lawrence. What had happened back home might not happen in Lawrence and vice versa. “Maybe one day. I’m supposed to show up at Klaus’ door in a year or a century back home.” Plus she had heard rumors of other promises that she’d apparently drunkenly spilled to her friends that he’d also apparently said at their graduation back home.
Though Caroline knew there were plenty of obstacles in Klaus and hers way back in their world. Understandings that had happened in Lawrence weren’t there just yet back thereand her life still revolved around her friends back in Mystic Falls. It didn’t in Lawrence. She loved them all dearly but she had also learned to make her own way and her own decisions. Being out of the comfort of the familiar had sped that up more than anything else. Giving Klaus an actual chance had as well. She wouldn’t ever regret doing that.
“But right. Not worrying about the past. Onward to new things. Like trying out new cafes and possibly new drinks. Meeting new people.” She smiled at Cami and got out of the car, locking it once Cami was out as well. “And maybe new friendships forming.” Which she would always consider to be a good thing.
~~~
There was little for Cami to do other than smile and nod. As she looked at the door handle to get out of the car she paused for a moment and let the internal pain wash over her as she pushed it away opening the door and shutting it hearing the beep of the car telling her it was actually locked she looked up again.
“Exactly, we are in Kansas now, as long as we aren’t all turned into black and white movies and picked up by tornados, might as well focus on what is here.” Cami was well aware at how stupid that might sound, but hell a break between heaven and hell apparently brought them all here, might as well go with the joke right?
“Yeah, new friendships.” Cami said. “So, new friend Caroline, I think you owe me so local really dumb gossip, like who wore pantaloons to a fancy party.” It was a joke and her smile and shrug she hoped showed it was an attempt to lighten the mood, she could have done better but hey, she was fully trying.