[Open] Pearl Steps Through the Rift (Grant Park)

[pearlapothecary]

Thirty seconds ago, Pearl had been walking through an antique shop, trying to find a pair of rings that looked old enough that she might have owned them before the United States had its little unpleasantness. Suits made of fine fabrics paired with classic jewelry spoke of old money. Everything depended on giving the right impression. Then she

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[idontgethurt]

Damon is not expecting to run into anyone that he knows from Mystic Falls tonight. Granted, he isn't the only one here from that universe, but they all know not to show up in the park at this hour. He has a meeting to get to. Thanks to being friends (the closest thing Damon ever gets to friendship) with Josef Soltini, Damon has a lot of money and some semblance of power in Chicago.

This means attending meetings at any hour of the night, because not all the business that he's involved with is entirely... legal.

Damon sees her ahead on the cement path, and he recognizes her immediately. Pearl. It could be her or it could be someone that looks exactly like her, but she has the same style, the same expressions on her face that he would expect from Pearl.

He has a list of people that he would hate to fall through the Rift, and she is not on it. It doesn't mean he's happy to see her either, but he wasn't happy to hear she'd died soDamon stops a small distance from her. The surprise is evident on his face. "Of all the people I

[pearlapothecary]

Pearl wouldn't say that Damon Salvatore is one of her favorite people, but she knows he can be useful. Even if his youth does cause him to make mistakes. Those can be managed. She isn't sure Damon can be managed, but even that she can work with. Most importantly, she needs information, and Damon has it.

"I can't say I was expecting it either," says Pearl. She acts like it's nothing to take one step in an exclusive shop in New York and then end up with her shoes covered in mud in Chicago. "I suppose I'll have to find the nearest airport. Or perhaps I'll learn to drive."

She has no idea that the park is dangerous this time of night. It's Chicago. It's hardly, so she thinks, any more a hotbed of supernatural activity than any other place.

[idontgethurt]

It is very difficult to control Damon. It is difficult for Damon to control himself. There's all that emotion, and he doesn't deal with it constructively ever. However, he has gotten better at it.

Damon smirks at her at her reply, maintaining his distance for the moment. He is not surprised at how unflappable she seems. She always did appear to be put together in nearly any situation. Sometimes that annoyed him, because he's the complete opposite.

"It's... really not that simple. You walked through an invisible door from wherever you were to Chicago. Do you really think a plane ticket's going to clear that all up for you?" He pauses, folding his arms across his chest. "...you're not in the same universe anymore, Pearl. Everything's changed."

That's putting it lightly.

[pearlapothecary]

She'd forgotten how smug Damon can be. It hasn't been that long since Pearl last saw him, but she's been working very hard to leave Mystic Falls and all its residents behind her.

"A different universe?" She gives him a skeptical look. Nothing is outside the realm of possibility; she's all too aware of that from things Emily Bennett has said. "How did that come to be?"

There's a certain tightness in Pearl's expression, a set to her mouth that says exactly how much it's costing her not to turn and search for Anna, to find her right now and make sure she's okay. Her daughter is a grown woman, hundreds of years old. She'll be all right until she and Pearl can find each other again.

The first thing Pearl needs is information. She just hates having to get it from Damon. She's going to owe him a favor, and, knowing him, he'll call it in at exactly the wrong time.

[idontgethurt]

Damon folds his arms across his chest, shaking his head at the question.

"I have no idea. Apparently, there are endless amounts of other universes, and you fall through yours and wind up here. Completely by accident," he says, rolling his eyes because it's still something that annoys him.

Thankfully, he landed right on top of one of the only few people that matter to him so he didn't have to worry about what was left behind.

"Before I start delving into all the information about this place, I'm going to need your word that... we're going to play nice. I know you're stronger than me, and I'm not looking to get my eyes removed again." He's a little more in control than he was before when she met him. Damon has to be. He cares about Elena, and his brother isn't around so it all falls on him to keep her safe. "That includes the Gilberts."

Well, that's one way to introduce the fact that they're here too, but he has no doubts she'll run into them at some point and she is stronger than him so. Last he heard, she had no desire to ruin

[pearlapothecary]

"That depends on which Gilberts you're talking about," says Pearl, without hesitation. There's more than one in this universe, but which ones

[idontgethurt]

Damon remains standing there in front of her. He is well aware of her issues with the Gilberts, and there is no other Gilbert that he cares about. Hell, he doesn't really care about Jeremy beyond what he knows it would do to Elena if he were hurt or killed, which is enough to make him want to protect that kid too

[pearlapothecary]

It's not that Pearl loses control of her expression, not entirely, it's just that she can't stop wanting to kill John Gilbert. Sometimes she gets a smile as she plans a particularly gruesome death for him.

"I think we can agree on Elena and Jeremy," says Pearl, mustering her expression back under control. Anna would never let her hear the end of it if she did anything to hurt Jeremy. "As well as John Gilbert. Now, tell me about landing in Chicago from different times."

She's not sure she believes any of this, though she believes it's possible. She's not sure Damon believes any of this, though he acts like he does. But she's not going to let potentially useful information go. There are many things Pearl is good at. Learning the lay of the land is one of them.

Right at the moment, Pearl has a mental checklist of things that she has to do. Getting more information, and from more sources, is at the top of that list. She may even have to find the Gilbert siblings and ask them. She might even do it politely.

[idontgethurt]

Damon can see it for the briefest of seconds, and he smirks at the sight of it but doesn't say anything more. The thought of killing John Gilbert would bring a smile to anyone's face. Well, it'd bring a smile to his face too.

"Then we have an agreement," he says, keeping his arms across his chest as he examines her. He knows better to keep her waiting, and she is much, much stronger than him.

It's not like he'll ever forget how she shoved her fingers into his eyes. It has to rank up there in the top physical pains he's received. Maybe. Damon gets hurt frequently.

"There's not much to say except apparently we can land in Chicago from different times. Last I heard of you, you'd been staked... by John Gilbert himself. Last time that we spoke, you handed me that device."

Not that he didn't end up losing it in the end regardless. She could have given it to Stefan instead, but she gave it to him.

[pearlapothecary]

Pearl believes that excruciating pain is a motivating factor. It sticks in the memory of anyone, even young vampires who shut off their emotions. Not that Damon shuts off his emotions. Still, it has to be used judiciously to be effective. That means she's going to save it for when she needs to make an impression

[idontgethurt]

It is definitely a motivating factor for Damon. He does not want thumbs in his eyes again. He is very aware that she is that much stronger than him, and Damon would hate to make another enemy when he has enough going for him as it is by the very nature of taking up Josef's mantle after he died and because Damon is Damon.

Damon has a habit of making enemies, because he's a jerk.

"...yeah, not how it happened where I'm from. Sadly," Damon says, and while there may be that slight hint of smarmy sarcasm in his voice, he mean it. He would have preferred a universe where John Gilbert didn't get to get away with half of what he did. "People can land in the windy city from alternate versions of their own universe so if everything wasn't complicated enough, Pearl. Our universes don't exactly match up

[pearlapothecary]

Pearl doesn't make enemies lightly. She builds alliances based on mutual interest. She's going to have to start at the beginning, since she doesn't have a network built up over centuries. Almost the beginning, at least

[idontgethurt]

[OOC: Sorry for the delay. :(]

Damon cannot say the same about himself. He has a tendency to make enemies everywhere by sheer nature of being who he is. However, he has been better at it. There are people that he's been careful around, and he's aware that in this universe, he's out of his element.

There are more than werewolves to worry about when it comes to what might hurt him.

"Relieved it doesn't happen that way? Even if you end up dead?" Damon raises an eyebrow at her. Yes, the sarcasm is everywhere in his voice, in his demeanor. It's much easier that way, for him at least.

"Unfortunately," he says in answer. "He was living last I heard, but he's not here and Jeremy comes from further down the line. He said John died. ...do you want a drink?"

It seems strange to talk to her out in the open about all of this, and Damon never knows who could be listening in. He knows she doesn't trust him as he doesn't trust her, but he means to keep his word when it means an alliance between them.

[pearlapothecary]

[OOC: No worries! I'm busy all the time myself.]

"I think I could use one," says Pearl, with a wry smile. She'll take any kind of drink: Alcohol to blunt her hunger, caffeine to warm her skin, or blood to sustain her. She's going to have to be careful with the last one until she finds out where it's safe to drink, and what blood banks she can withdraw from without consequences. "I presume you know all the good places in town?"

[idontgethurt]

"I own one of them," Damon says with a smirk as he looks at her, but it's not where he will lead her to at the present moment. He doesn't think the 'club' aspect of it will exactly appeal to her, and it's prime time for it to be filled with people. "There is one much closer to the park, and I can point you in the direction of the Tower."

Because he's a gentleman like that... except not. He does want to appeal to her being his ally as opposed to the alternative. he doesn't trust her, but he could use allies.

[pearlapothecary]

"Damon Salvatore, an entrepreneur," says Pearl. She gives him a curious look, reevaluating him. He's changed. "Putting down roots?"

OOC: Look at me, posting again! Sorry for the delay!