strangetrip | [EP/GP] Check-In: I Assure You We Are Open

The damp, cool, chilly morning clouded with fog seemed to fit the mood about the Madonna Inn. Nobody had been quite right since the undead invasion. Definitely not Vax'ildan. But for him, it was less about their sense of day-to-day calm and safety shattered, less about undead specifically. It was a lot more to do with losing Scanlan and Pike, and the new memorials installed in the Temple.

He wondered about it, not for the first time, even as he readied for the fresh arrivals that might be coming today - or not, because they didn't always. What decided who came and went? Was there any sense in how many and when or why? Not so far as he could tell, but he'd never been the brains.

Gathering up the great heap of cloth and rope in his arms, the lean figure summoned the wings of his armor, the black of his silhouette merging with the other dark and shifting shapes skulking about in the first light of dawn. With a crouch and a lunge from the roof, he spread his wings wide and circled through the air right up to the face of the main building, unfurling the massive banner he'd sewn of spare bedsheets and painted with dark dye to tie it up taut:

WELCOME NEWCOMERS
YES, THIS MEANS YOU
NO REALLY WE'RE SURE

Life kept going on around you, no matter how confused or scared or fucked-up you were. And the best thing, the kindest thing, the sanest thing he could think to do in all this was to start up the coffee machine, stack some decorated pumpkin-shaped cookies on a platter in the lobby, and prop open the doors for whoever would join them in being confused and scared and fucked-up today.

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Caroline's eyebrows climbed. She'd been a stupid teenager. She'd kissed people unadvisedly. And she was not so much of a hypocrite that she was going to lecture Liz about it.

On the other hand... "Aren't you dating someone else?"

Shit, was her information out of date? She hadn't been paying as much attention as she usually did recently.

She flushed suddenly and nodded. "Yes, I am. I'm dating Peter. I didn't - I didn't kiss him back or anything. It was..." She brought her hands to her face and rubbed. "It looks bad, doesn't it." Was Peter going to freak out on her?

"Yeah, it looks bad. It looks like Brad needs to learn about boundaries." Caroline was so indignant that it took her a moment to realize that wasn't exactly what Liz had meant. "Oh, you mean for you? No. Um, well, maybe not. Did you want him to kiss you? Because that would be a little bad. Not that I haven't kissed guys when I was dating other guys before. But it's a shitty thing to do. But it's more shitty to kiss people you know are in relationships without asking them first if that's something they want to do."

She shook her head. "I didn't want it or like it." Not in the sense of like-liking it anyways. She didn't want to throw up when it happened, but it hadn't been wanted.

"I think he knows that. He, um... He apologized a lot and walked away quickly." Somehow she felt like she was responsible for the awkward. "I keep wondering if I did something to give him the wrong impression."

Caroline shrugged. "Maybe. Guys can read signals into anything. Or nothing. The guy I...was trying to shake off took continuing hostility as a challenge." She picked up a cookie and broke it in half. "If you think that might be it, being upfront is your best option. Even though it will feel awkward and awful. It's better than dragging it out and hoping it goes away. They never just go away on their own."

Liz nodded. She knew it wasn't going to be fun to have that conversation, but she knew she probably should. "Did the guy - did you ever shake him off?"

Caroline ate half of the cookie, mostly to give herself something to do. Had she ever shaken Klaus off? He'd promised that if she would finally admit her feelings toward him he would back off for good. And aside from sex against a tree, she hadn't heard from him since. But did she trust that he wouldn't come back someday?

He was your first love. I intend to be your last.

"Well..." she said at length, looking somewhere that wasn't quite at Liz, "I'm in a different dimension, so that probably counts, right?"

Liz blinked. If that was the only way she was able to have him back off, that was kind of scary. Thankfully she didn't think that Brad was that bad. She just thought somewhere something had happened and it could easily be rectified.

"I hope it won't ruin being friends." If he even thought of them as such - it was hard to tell from yesterday and his comments. "I think... I think Peter would let me stay friends."

Caroline set down her mug and held up her hand. "Okay, two things. One, you're going to have to talk to him and hopefully work things out. But it's not your fault if it doesn't. Two, do not tell Peter."

This, Caroline felt, could only lead to disaster. "Peter's either going to be fine with it, in which case he doesn't need to know. Or he's going to be upset about it and not be able to do anything, in which case he doesn't need to know. Just deal with it yourself."

Her eyes widened a little in surprise. "You... you want me to lie to Peter?" They might do a lot of dumb things, but one thing they never did was lie - as far as Liz knew anyways. She thought they told each other everything.

Caroline was rather offended. "Who's lying? If Peter says 'Liz, did Brad kiss you?' Then you say, 'Yes, he did. He made a mistake. I talked to him about it and it's done.' But if he doesn't ask, you don't have to tell him. What's the point of upsetting him? Especially if he's going to try to tell you who you can't be friends with. You can make your own decisions about that."

Liz took that in quietly and then nodded slowly. It wouldn't be the first time a boyfriend told her she couldn't see someone. Kyle had banned Max. Max had banned Kyle. Liz hadn't really listened to either one. She wondered if all boys did that. Would Peter be the same? If she didn't listen, would it affect their relationship? Her lips pressed together in worried contemplation.

"You really think it's for the best?"

Caroline nodded confidently. "Absolutely. Boys always overreact."

After a moment, she relented slightly and added, "If Brad gives you trouble, then you can consider if Peter needs to know."

"I don't think he will..." Or maybe that was Liz projecting what she wanted to happen. "But... yeah." She paused. "I hope it doesn't become a thing." Liz really didn't want it to be a thing.

"Has, um... has anyone new showed up?" Yes, she was trying to change the subject.

[EP/GP] Check-In: I Assure You We Are Open

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