Like Real People Do (TVD/PJO)

{1} Goodbye Camp, Hello Mystic Falls

As Flora packed her bags and readied her things to be taken to her hometown, she got to thinking. She knew that she would miss the few friends she made along the way in Camp and in the war she had to participate in. She would be missing her half-brother Percy, his girlfriend Annabeth, their satyr friend Grover, and of course her 'cousin' Nico Di Angelo. Despite having all these friends and finally having a sibling, she hadn't seen her childhood friends in nearly five years.  She had been taken to Camp Half-Blood after her mother/protector was killed by a rogue beast when she was fourteen years old, and her nineteenth birthday was in two months. But still, despite having such a horrible memory of her hometown she couldn't help but miss it. 

Flora missed Caroline and Jeremy, her two best friends when she still lived there. Even though she was older than Caroline by two years, and Jeremy by three, the trio was inseparable. She had made sure to keep in contact with the two through letters while she was gone, and neither one of them ever kept a secret from her. Since her friends told her about the growing vampire menace going on recently, she thought it best to go back home and help them out. It had been nearly a month since she'd gotten a letter from Jeremy and all it had told her was that Caroline was a vampire now. Caroline hadn't sent her a letter in eight months. 

After she finished strapping her gear to her person and hiding it with the Mist Flora grabbed her bags and made her final goodbyes with her friends in the Camp, knowing that this was likely the last time she would ever see any one of them. Nico walked up to her and hugged her tight, sniffling and burying his head in her shoulder. The two were very close, despite her being an adult and him being 14. 

"I'm gonna miss you, Flower Girl." Nico mumbled, trying to hold himself back. Everyone in the Camp knew that she was the only person who could make Nico this vulnerable after Bianca's death, since she acted like a sister or even an aunt to the young demigod. 

"I'm gonna miss you too, Death Breath." She teased, giving Nico one last noogie. "You better tell that boy how you feel about him while I'm gone, and I better get an Iris message telling me how it went after you do." 

Nico's cheeks flushed red, and his spot in Flora's arms was taken by her half-brother Percy Jackson. 

"Do you have to go?" Percy whined, not wanting his sister to leave. It was no secret to the Camp that Flora was an excellent warrior, but he still worried about her safety. 

"Of course I do, Perce. I promise to Iris message you guys at least twice a month." She wiggled her way out of his arms and made her way down to the entrance of Camp Half-Blood where the Grey Women were waiting in their taxi cab. Flora loaded her bags into the backseat and buckled herself up, giving the sisters a hefty pouch of gold coins. 

"Take me to Mystic Falls, Virginia. Get me there in one piece and I'll double your pay." Flora demanded, and the cab quickly took off.

After only an hour of waiting (and half an hour of paying for her hotel room and unpacking her things), Flora was walking through the town square of Mystic Falls. She knew that her aura was very powerful, especially to other supernaturals, but Flora wasn't expecting Caroline Forbes to tackle her while squealing. 

"Flora, oh my god! I can't believe you're here, it's been so long!" Caroline practically yelled in her ear, and Flora winced. 

"Care Bear, you know my hearing is sensitive. Why don't we go get a drink and catch each other up on what's been going on the past few months?" Flora suggested, and her vampire friend began dragging her to the Mystic Grill.

As soon as she stepped into the building Flora got an unpleasant feeling, like something bad was going to happen. Going against her every instinct, she sat in a booth with Caroline and the two told each other all about how their lives had changed in the past eight months. Flora described how she had to fight in a war with the Titans, found out she had a brother, and gained the favor of several Greek gods and goddesses along the way. Caroline told her about Elena's boyfriend Stefan and his brother Damon, and right when she was getting to the topic of the Mikaelson family they seemed to decide that that was the perfect moment to come strolling into the Mystic Grill. 

Flora's jaw dropped at the sight of the incredibly gorgeous family, and Caroline had to nudge her before she realized what she did and closed her mouth. She smiled at the family, and when they saw who she was with a man with curly blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes lead them over to the pair. 

"Caroline, care to introduce us to your lovely friend?" The man all but purred, and Flora narrowed her eyes at him. 

"Care, why didn't you tell me there were more vampires here?" Flora grumbled at her dear friend before speaking up and looking the stranger directly in the eyes almost as if challenging him. "My name is Flora Fitzroy, who might you all be? And does anybody care to tell me why there's a fucking bakers dozen of vampires in this godsforsaken town?" 

Instead of being surprised or insulted as she expected him to be, the man with curly hair just smirked and held his hand out to shake. "I'm Niklaus Mikaelson, love. The man and woman with me are two of my siblings, Elijah and Rebekah. How about you tell me how some human knows we're vampires?"

She scoffed, giving him a firm handshake. "Can't compel me, Niklaus. I'm not some human plaything for you to bleed dry. I've seen things you couldn't begin to comprehend."