Chapter Text
Thirty silent minutes of walking across an empty, slightly foggy, quad later, the taller of the two girls stops in front of the steps leading to a very scary and abandoned looking building, causing Laura to run right into the brunette.
“S-sorry…” She stuttered, a deep blush spreading across her cheeks. Laura had been quiet during this trek as her mind attempted to understand this strange turn of events as well as trying to figure out what Carmilla meant when she said she wanted to show Laura her panther.
While the honey blonde had been thinking on their short trip, so had the artist. Thoughts of ‘Will she be scared of me?’ and ‘Of course she’s going to be scared, dipshit.’ flowing through at a rapid pace. Her hands shake slightly so she curls them into fists as the small girl pipes up behind her.
“Where are we, exactly? I don’t think I’ve ever been here before…” Laura trails off, her heart rate picking up minimally as she imagines what could be behind those gigantic wood and iron doors.
“It’s the Astronomy building.” Carmilla states before starting up the slabs of stone leading to the entrance. “Not many people come here since they built the Star Tower on the west side of campus a few years back.”
“Oh.” Is all the waitress lets out as she begins to follow the broody girl up the stairs. “So, what are we doing here then?”
“I told you that it’s only fair that I show you my panther, cupcake.” She lets out a sigh as she says this, at first Laura thinks it’s of disappointment but soon realizes that it’s shaky and restricted.
“Why couldn’t you have just shown me back at the Arts building? Not this… extremely creepy place.”
“Because it’s not safe there.” Carmilla stops and turns around to face Laura as soon as she reaches the top. “This is the only place where I know nobody will come barging in and ruin everything.” With that last sentence the smaller girl truly is confused as by what’s going on.
“You’re not going to kill me, are you?” Laura questions as her brow raises and she points accusingly. Carmilla chuckles and shakes her head before falling back around and lugging one of the massive doors open.
‘Gods, Karnstein. What is this girl doing to you?’ The artist thinks as she motions for Laura to enter. “After you, cutie.”
…
“Woah…” Laura mutters to herself as she steps into what she can only assume is the foyer. The entrance is massive with columns reaching to the well over twelve foot ceiling and an ancient looking grand staircase in the middle leading to god knows where. “Not that this place isn’t amazing, Carm. But what are we doing here?”
“…I needed some place- private, to show you.” Carmilla breathes out nervously. “Follow me.” She says chastely and turns on her heal to start up the extravagantly set steps.
“No, I know that it needs to be private or whatever, I meant why here? The astronomy building of all places, there has to be someplace else this could have been done.” Laura tries as she trails behind the artist.
“You’re right, there are a bunch of other places on campus this could have been done.” They make a winding turn yet still going up. “I just feel safe here, I guess.”
“Oh.” Is all the smaller girl lets out.
A few more seconds pass of the two walking up the staircase, which seems to be getting thinner in width, they take several final curved steps before a door is cracked open before them. Carmilla’s breath shudders past her lips as she pushes inside, the metal hinges creaking loudly. Laura is following closely behind, she’s pretty sure she saw that knight statue at the end of the hall move earlier. Yet no amount of the small fear she’s in can take away the sight before her.
There are maps of stars clinging to the walls, each detailed to perfection and a large golden telescope off to the left side, perfectly posed. The waitress finds herself walking over to it in amazement, a small hand running over the side to trace the engraved words as the thick layer of dust settles into the air.
“Ad Astra.” A husky voice purrs from behind her. “It means ‘to the stars’ in Latin.” Carmilla is standing beside Laura as she says this. The honey blonde turns her attention from the telescope to the broody punk beside her, only to see a look of adoration spread across Carmilla’s face.
“That’s… beautiful.” Laura is at a slight loss of words, especially being in such close proximity to the woman next to her. When did she start having that effect on her? “I didn’t know you could speak Latin.”
“Apparently there’s a lot of things you don’t know about me, poptart.” The artists’ voice lowers as she says this, her eyes almost appearing to grow darker.
“What would you do if I said I wanted to find out those things?” Laura was testing her, she was wanting to see how far she’d go, Carmilla knew this but it didn’t help the flutter in her stomach any.