[center][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/1e6261ccfd738a9d0a3c7047f21f61fe/cc8d59676422195b-fb/s540x810/83ac11ab3b1063b12c29af076cb895b26482ac74.gif[/img] [h2]Caitlin[/h2] [h3]Out for a Walk[/h3] Saturday[/center] The days following the party had dragged by at a snail’s pace for Cait. The morning after had kicked off to an uninspiring start; Carlisle had all but kicked her out of the Coven manor when she tried to talk with him. Since that morning, she had stayed away from the house for some time, spending the week at her parents’ house. It wasn’t much better there either though, as both her mother and father remained generally silent towards her. The fact that she had chosen to spend most of the days lounging around the house hadn’t done her any favors. On the few instances that her parents did in fact speak to her, it was to belabor the fact that she should have been at the Coven resuming her training… as if there were a line of people there waiting to help her with that.  When she woke up on Saturday, she stared at her phone screen, contemplating any call she could have made. Victor was the first to come to mind. But she knew he had just been through a load of shit. She might have tried to reach out to Aurora… but she didn’t have her number. That left Daniel; he had offered to coach her, though she had been hesitant to reach out or take him up on the offer. Pocketing her phone after fifteen minutes of staring blankly into a dark screen, Cait dressed herself and crept out of the house. It was still early, and her parents were fast asleep, no doubt finding what enjoyment they could in the weekend; they, like other seniors of the Coven, had been running some level of damage control in the wake of the werewolf attack.  As she closed the front door behind her, Cait wondered if word had reached them that she had, in fact, magic’d her way through a fight with a werewolf… or if all anyone said was that she turned tail and ran for her life. “They probably wouldn’t care, huh, Tig,” she said to a small Maine Coon, [url=https://i.redd.it/zrv8kybo3fc21.jpg]Tigris,[/url] sitting out on the front step. She rubbed the top of the cat’s head as she hopped down the front step. Not looking back, she strode down the driveway and to the street, wishing she could have gotten her skateboard back.  The walk, long, and a bit chilly in the morning hours, brought her to the park, where the alluring sound of wheels rolling over concrete drew her to the basketball court. Off-loaded from an old VW Bus sitting at the far end of the court, a makeshift set of ramps and rails set up like a mobile skate park was laid out. Jumping in turn off of a kicker were two faces Cait knew from high school. One, a lanky Latino man with dark, shoulder length hair; the other a young brunette woman. "Yo," Cait called as the pair landed on the flat. "Ricardo! Dez! Getting in a sesh before the ballers come out?" The pair turned and skated to stop near Cait. "That Mo?" Ricardo asked, popping his board up into his hand. "Yeah bro." Cait replied with a nod. "It's me." "I thought you were in Cali," Dez spoke half-snarkily. "I heard you got fucked up down there," Ric added. "It got hot down there." Cait replied with a defensive tone. "Had to come back up for a bit. Y'know. Wait for the crew to chill a bit before head out again." "Bet." Ric's face shifted. "I thought I saw you the other day. You were going to the mansion. What is that place about anyways?" "No clue man." Cait shrugged. Her insides churned; her surface stayed calm though. "Wasn't me you saw; never been in the place. Probably some fancy social club." "Right." Ric shrugged too, though he eyed Cait with scrutiny. "Where's your board at, Mo?" Dez chimed in, breaking an awkward silence. "Home." Cait said without missing a beat. "Need to do some work on it." "Well get to it. Ric and I were gonna hit some spots in the city one day. Would be cool if you were there too. It would be like old times." "That'd be sick." Cait fist-bumped her friends. "I gotta duck out right now though. I'll hit you up later." [center][h3]~-------~[/h3][/center] It was mid-morning as Cait strode back down her driveway. A revolving door of thoughts spun around as she started onto the front walkway. Magic vs. Skating. That was the debate. To bury herself in the daunting effort of catching up to her peers in the Coven, or to cut loose at the first chance to do what brought her peace of mind. To invest back into the life of being a Witch, or stay her course a skatergirl. The former had been pulling more aggressively since the party. As she was, she was being torn by two paths that demanded full attention. "I'm guessing you didn't go to the manor." A voice hummed in Cait's ear as soon as she entered the house. She turned to see her mother sitting cross-legged in an armchair in the living room. Cait began to walk over. But, to her shock, her mother stood up and walked to meet her halfway. "At least you got out of the house, finally. You were becoming a couch potato." Cait said nothing. Not dismayed, her mom continued. "I... I feel that your father and I... and maybe the others as well, were too quick to give up on you." Cait remained silent. "The weight we put on our own children to master powers they never asked for. To thrust the burden of an underworld of horrors onto teenagers and young adults. It's crazy, really. And almost none of us were ready for it when we started; even heads of the Council struggled at first. My point is, I understand why you've been running from it all." "I haven't been--" "You can't lie about that, Caitlin, dear." Cait fell silent again. "Trial by fire." Cait's mom walked to an end table, picking up a large, leather-bound book. "That's always been the policy for Covens world over. And there are some things we just can't run from forever." She held the book out for Cait. "Like what runs in your blood." "What's this?" Cait asked. "A gift from your grandfather. My father. Your Papa Lafayette. There's no hurry for you to read it; go at your own pace. But it's the ongoing history of our family, my side of it anyways. I, believe it will have more to do with you than the Cade side right now." The book dropped into Cait's hands without her even realizing she had reached for it... like it too was pulling her in. "I... um... thanks Mom." [center][h3]~-------~[/h3][/center] The old book sat on Cait's nightstand. Cait sat on her bed, staring the book down as if its pages would jump out at her. She sat like that for close to thirty minutes before she finally broke eye contact. A whirling storm of inspiration had hit her. She reached for her phone and pulled up Daniel's number. [quote]"Hey dude. Been thinking about it a bit. If you still can, I could use some help with my magic."[/quote] [b][Send][/b] The text 'whooshed' out. Cait flopped out onto her bed and heaved a heavy sigh. ((OOC: On a time crunch this morning. Will format this thing more later))