Strange, and then some

[Nicholas Kirkland]

Channel surfing. He had been reduced to Channel Surfing, and there was nothing decent on TV. The last decent thing had finished over an hour ago. Now, everything was either morning chat shows where each and every woman wanted to know who the baby daddy was, or shopping shows trying to sell you a useless piece of crap that you would use once and then wonder why you ever brought it. Why the hell was he even up at this time anyway?

Usually he would have spent the previous night staying up late, maybe phoning his friends and catching up with them, or perhaps finding out what there was to do in the surrounding area. But for some reason, he had been too tired. Never again. If going to bed early meant before up before 10 in the morning, then he would put up with the tiredness at night. Glancing around, he made sure it was neat, before he grabbed his jacket and pulled it on. He grabbed his wallet, cell phone and keys, and then left the apartment; the door clicking shut behind him. He slowly made his way down the steps and out onto the busy streets.

He made his way through the every day crowd, breathing a sigh of relief when he reached the park. It wasn’t overly crowded; just the way he liked it. Pushing his hands inside his jacket pockets, he bent his head down and slowly began to walk his usual path through the overly large park. He often wondered why he enjoyed taking walks. Maybe it was because he knew he couldn’t actually cause unnecessary trouble outside and this made his mind relax. That was unlikely, but he couldn’t really think of anything else. Well, except the fact that he liked listening to the birds singing, the laughter of others and he enjoyed the feeling of the wind – if any – as it ran through his thick mop of hair. He shrugged it off and glanced around. To say it was early, there were quite a lot of people about; but then again, he was never usually up at this time.

Nick wasn’t entirely sure what type of weather he preferred. On one hand, he loved it being warm, because more women came out and even if he was out of practice, it was always fun watching their various reactions to him. He wasn't actively looking to settle down and he wasn't a player so the eventual rejection didn't wound his ego. On the other hand, he preferred the cold because he loved his sleep and when it was too hot, it found it impossible to sleep without a fan making too much noise, which kept him awake anyway. Whilst he was outside though, he definitely preferred it being warm; despite the fact he was in jeans and a jacket.

He leaned against a fence for a moment, just resting – not that he really needed to. Nick was healthy, his job required physicals every six months and demanded he be at the top of his game, so it wasn’t like he had to rest because he was worn out. He glanced up and admired the view. If there was any one thing he loved about this place, it was the park. Nature; he wasn’t exactly a nature lover, but he did like to go out and experience it. It reminded him of camping trips when he was a boy. They definitely didn't have places like this in the big cities he'd become used to living in.

If it hadn't been for his brother's 'accident' he might never have seen this place at all. He hadn't been to see his grandmother in years. Sure, he wrote and sent gifts, but he never waxed nostalgic enough to actually come down. It was probably one of the reasons the family rarely bothered him. Admittedly, there was a time he had hated this place, simply because he had gotten lost. He had been watching two people play a game of chess, but his parents hadn’t noticed and they had gone off without him. He was well over that by now, but that didn't mean he forgot.

tagged: Open
outfit: here.
words: 714
notes: Raptors will eat everything except the arm, raptors hate arms.

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[Stefan Salvatore]

OOC
For Stefan, this takes place several hours after the "Love Me, Hate Me" thread.

IC
The silence of the early morning was shattered by footsteps that were running rhythmically and Stefan's eyes were clouded. His mind was swimming with everything that had been going on: the events of the Founder's Day, Katherine's return, his unexpected conversation he had just had with her. Man, why did she have to show up? She ruined everything! he thought to himself. After she had finally left, he had finished the bottle he had started as well as one other, but as he often used his stash to stave the cravings, he didn't feel like going through any more of the bottles, so he had decided to go for a run. Running had helped him before and he was sure it could now.

It wasn't long before Stefan began to pick up speed. As he did so, the park became a blur. The trees and fences were like specs as he raced around the place, and he could feel his anger mounting as he remembered everything. He had worked for years to put Katherine behind him. He had worked a long time to make sense of what Katherine had done to him---not that he had actually been able to talk about it with anyone---but he had worked it out in his head what his Sire had done to him. And he had been doing fine. He had put it behind him. And then she had shown up again.

The vampire could feel the anger burning up inside of him and he quickened his pace. He wanted to forget. He needed to forget. Katherine was---she was poison. And he wanted her gone from his life. Which was why he was currently running like freaking Speedy Gonzalez in Mystic Park. But what else could he do? It wasn't like he could talk to anyone about this. His issues with Katherine were no one's business but his own. But one thing was for sure, he wasn't going to let her sink his claws back into him...

The scent of a human brought Stefan out of his reverie and he slowed his pace until he was at a human-paced jog. Who was out here? It didn't smell like anyone he knew. He focused on finding the scent until he caught sight of a man wearing a black leather jacket, a police shirt, blue jeans, and black motorcycle boots, which definitely contrasted with his own outfit which was a dark gray shirt, dark blue jeans, and black tennis shoes. Who's that? I've never seen him before, he mused as he began walking towards the man. And a stranger in Mystic Falls wasn't something that should be ignored.
"Looks like I'm not the only one who can't get any sleep," he commented as he approached the man.

[Nicholas Kirkland]

He backed away from the fence and resumed his walk. He saw the scenery blur slightly. Everything looked different, smaller, when you passed it by with any speed. It was hard to enjoy it. He was not a morning person. He'd tried that. He was like a square peg in a round hole when it came to fitting in there. It just wasn't for him. Getting up early did not mean you were a better member of society.

Being on time during the pre-noon hours didn't mean you cared more. The only good feelings he got out of artificially forcing his body onto a morning person's schedule was a reduced amount of guilt for being what he was, which is simply a night person. When on a morning schedule, he was not happier, he didn't notice that he'd slept better, he was not more productive, and was definitely not more creative. Stupid self-help book lies...

His mind wandered to times he'd gone out with his friends and co-workers. There were only two times that a co-worker had actually managed to get him drunk, and karaoke had ensued. He would never admit to that in public. He especially didn't want his brother to find out. The man had already asked him once if he was drunk because he was being his usual obnoxious self. He could just imagine his brother's reaction to seeing him really drunk.

He still had the pictures. It was an experience he wasn't looking forward to repeating. He needed to get back to work. Having nothing to do was starting to get to him. He could always try to build something, but what? His grandmother didn't need anything and the apartment he was renting for the time being had come furnished. It wasn't like San Diego, where he'd built his own house.

Ultimately, it didn't matter. He'd figure out soon enough if he was staying or going and right now he had some affairs to handle. From the talk they had, he knew his brother was still somewhat bothered by his accident and what had happened to his friend and he needed to figure out how best to handle that situation. He wasn't a psychiatrist and just being there wasn't nearly good enough. This called for drastic measures.

It was never a good idea when Nick started to plot. When he did, the ideas were usually quite strange. He hadn't gone much further when he saw someone approach him. Being Nick, he automatically logged his basic descriptors. It was a force of habit. His first thoughts were to wonder what a teenager would be doing out this late and hope that the kid had hobo-stab insurance, then quickly decided it was none of his business and left well enough alone.

"Nick Kirkland, and you are?" That was definitely in the bottom rung of his introductions. "Yeah, I needed to clear my head. I'm not crazy, I swear... Really reassuring, huh?"
tagged: Stefan/Open
outfit: here.
words: 510
notes: It was meant to be morning, lol, but I modified!

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[Stefan Salvatore]

From the guy's reaction, Stefan could tell that he hadn't expected anybody else---especially not a teenager---to be out and about in the early morning. Not that he could blame him. How many teenagers would be wandering around in the park unless they were stoned or drunk? Neither of which applied to him. But what he was supposed to say, "I'm out here because the vampire that turned me and my brother got under my skin and now I wanna get freakin' drunk?" Yeah, thatt would go over real well. With his luck, the guy would turn out to be a hunter who would then knock him on his butt. Not a very appealing option, thank you very much. And anyway, this guy didn't look like a hunter. But then again, neither had Alaric. But to be fair, Alaric wasn't an official hunter, more of a self-proclaimed one. Not that Stefan faulted the guy for wanting to start hunting vampires. He had thought that his wife Isobel had been killed by one---namely Damon. Of course it had turned out that Isobel hadn't been killed per se, but turned and was also Elena's biological mother. Yeah, his girlfriend's life wasn't complicated at all...

Stefan didn't even realize that his thoughts had wandered until he heard the guy's voice. He was introducing himself, saying that his name was Nick Kirkland and explaining that he had needed to clear his head.
"Yeah, I hear that one," Stefan agreed. "I've had a long week and I just needed to get out of the house," he continued. Especially since Katherine had apparently taken it upon herself to let herself in and act like she owned the place...something that annoyed him to no end. But he couldn't exactly say that to this guy as they had just met and the vampire had no idea whether or not he would end up being a danger to him and his friends. And that was something he just wouldn't allow.

OOC
Sorry it's rather short this time around. I'll try to make the next post longer.