Ω 001 ; open } { i got the surprise, surprise of my life -- i had to stop and stare
The first thing he notices is that the sun’s up.
It wouldn’t have been such a big deal if they had actually been driving all night, but Stefan knows for a fact that they haven’t. In fact, the clock on the car radio proves that. The digital read out says just after one AM, but from the looks of things, it was suddenly closer to one PM. That, and ( Read more... )
It wouldn’t have been such a big deal if they had actually been driving all night, but Stefan knows for a fact that they haven’t. In fact, the clock on the car radio proves that. The digital read out says just after one AM, but from the looks of things, it was suddenly closer to one PM. That, and ( Read more... )
It's why he thinks he knows better than to mention the difference right now. The Rift probably did it, and she'll get all angry about it again, ridiculously angry. Jeremy gets why it bothers her, but she was in a bad mood for the entire day.
He doesn't even think for a moment that it could be Katherine. For some reason, it hasn't occurred to him that she could fall through. It's mostly been the three of them for months and then Caroline fell through so he doesn't think about it. Jeremy should, but he doesn't and Katherine falls so quickly into playing the role perfectly that he's still not aware that there's anything to be alarmed about.
Katherine fixes it all so fast that Jeremy doe not notice all the telltale signs that this is not his sister at all.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just eating lunch with a friend from school," Jeremy answers easily, and he hasn't checked his phone recently to see the texts that Elena has undoubtedly sent his way about who has fallen through the Rift.
He doesn't think to check it right now either, because he's focused in on who he thinks is his sister.
"No, why would... something be wrong? I just didn't think I'd see you up in this part of the city today." He shakes his head, and then he looks at her with slight concern himself. Jeremy thought she was going to the Tower after her classes at the college, but he can't... remember specifically.
It's not like he memorizes his sister's schedule. "Is... everything okay with you?"
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Jeremy really should study his sister more closely - but not close enough that it brings to mind Flowers in the Attic, she thinks.
Interesting. Jeremy is in school. She files that information away. The last time she remembers seeing Jeremy, she had kidnapped him. Oh, memories.
"Well, that depends on your definition of okay," she answers, without thinking. Wait a minute, that is not the response she'd decided on. She smiles wider, taking a moment. "Everything is not okay," she then adds, furrowing her brow. She's getting frustrated. Jeremy is there but her attention is now on the fact that she's saying things that are not conducive to pretending to be the doppelganger. She shakes her head. "Don't worry about me," she finally says.
Well, if that's not confusing and worthy of raised suspicion, Jeremy really does need to go to that school of his. Perhaps, on Saturdays as well. She mulls the question over in her mind. Is everything okay?
"To be honest, things could be... worse," she finally comes out with, happier with that statement because it's true.
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Jeremy would start to recognize some differences as the conversation went on (he does know his sister pretty well), but thankfully (for him), Katherine's rift change will help him in that area. It's nice when the Rift is helpful for a change.
Oh, memories indeed! That is a memory that Jeremy is grateful to say that he never experienced.
The answer that she gives to him immediately makes him suspicious and concerned at the same time. Jeremy folds his arms across his chest, taking a step back as he looks at her again. This is weird. This is not normal weird but very weird. The response that she gave is nothing Elena would ever say to him.
Even if she wasn't okay, she wouldn't admit to it unless things were very bad and she wouldn't start out with those words. He is so confused. Again, he doesn't immediately think Katherine either, because Katherine... wouldn't respond like that if she was pretending to be Elena. She knows how to pretend to be his sister.
"Things could always be worse," Jeremy agrees, and he looks at her carefully. The suspicion is pretty clear on his face. There's plenty that Jeremy's good at but pretending isn't one of them. He's too sincere like his sister. "So what happened? What are you doing up here?"
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She'll be sure to remind him when or if it comes up. That was a fun road trip. Okay, he spent most of the time in the trunk but he was able to get a nap in!
Jeremy's posture and stance completely changes. Great. It's okay. She can do this. She'll open him back up. Like a flower. She just has to tap into her inner Elena Gilbert. Sad but surprisingly strong little waif is a go. Little waif... that shouldn't be messed with. There's a lot to being Elena Gilbert, isn't there.
Katherine's face falls before trying on that smile again.
"I know," she tries, readying herself for round 2. What happened. She can do 'what happened.' When she opens her mouth, she does not expect the following to come out.
"What happened," she starts, attempting to do her best Elena Gilbert impression. "...is that Stefan and I, and my car, somehow managed to fall through a rift without us actually moving. It's frustrating. And what I'm doing up here is exploring Chicago. Because, this is not the Chicago I remember."
Katherine's eyes go cold, just as suspicious of Jeremy as he is of her. As they turn black, veins protrude from the edges. She can't help herself. Something Jeremy is doing or something on Jeremy's person is causing this -- extreme honesty.
Which is why she moves forward, takes a fistful of Jeremy's jacket and slams him into a nearby car.
"Nifty trick." She holds him down, coming in close. "How are you doing it and how do you make it stop?"
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It's not as easy as it might look, Katherine. It's complicated, and Jeremy already has his guard up because of what she said. Elena would never say it like that. She'll say she's fine, paste on a smile even when she's not.
He knows his sister, and it's why he doesn't relax even when she looks like Elena again, gaining the expression that he's seen before on his sister. Jeremy looks at her, waiting for the answer to his question.
Then she answers the question completely honestly despite the fact that she obviously doesn't want to be honest at all. Jeremy's mouth drops open for a second, because he's... shocked. Sefan. He doesn't miss that. Stefan's here and with Katherine? Jeremy needs to get in contact with his sister, because this is not his sister.
His sister has been in Chicago for longer than him and as far as he knows, it's impossible to have duplicates on this side of Chicago. Oh, Jeremy, if only you knew... Jeremy opens his mouth to answer her when he sees her eyes go cold.
He takes a step back, reaching for the knife that he carries on him but there's no way that he can reach it before she's slammed him up against the car. Jeremy winces, locking his jaw and looking at her with severe dislike.
There's a glare in his gaze.
"I'm not doing anything to you. I thought you were my sister," he reminds her, grunting a little and trying to pull away from her though he's aware it's useless. She could snap his neck in a second, and he's aware of it. It's happened before, thankfully he's wearing the ring... which she could take off before killing him with no problems. He knows. "It looks like that's what the Rift changed about you, Katherine. Kinda sucks."
Except in all the ways that it doesn't suck for him and for Elena. If she can't lie, if it sticks, this is very good news for them, because Katherine is amazing at lying.
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Jeremy relaxing again relaxes Katherine only momentarily until she loses all control. This is Jeremy's fault. He has a device. Or, an ability. Or, Bonnie is running around. Is this some kind of weird gambit, forcing confessions out of her? Because, she is not amused, Jeremy Gilbert.
She presses harder, realizing it's futile. Damon would probably be on her. Elena would hate her even more than she all ready does. But, Elena can't blame her here. And that's the problem. Everybody blames her. Oh, Jenna stabbed herself. Blame Katherine. Jeremy got bitten, blame Katherine. Maybe they shouldn't make it easy to be stabbed. To be bitten!
She lets up only a tinge before pushing him again but that's only from her own frustration.
He's right about one thing. For a few seconds, he believed her. Her grip lessens and she sets him back down on the ground before letting go completely. Her eyes change back as if they had never changed in the first place. If there's one thing she can tell, it's a liar. And that's just from years of experience. It could be ironic but she refuses to believe -- why would a rift...
She takes a step back, her eyes returning to a normal, more human color.
"The Rift changes things about us? When we go through it?" she asks. She tries something on for size. "I am not Elena Gilbert." She looks at Jeremy. "Jeremy, I'm not your sister," she says, mimicking her doppelganger.
What has the Rift done to her?
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It wouldn't surprise him. He felt off when he walked out of bed in the middle of the night, but he ended up in Chicago. Jeremy figured the off feeling came from that, from the Rift. He has no idea he was actually gearing up to see the ghosts of his dead girlfriends.
Jeremy is pretty familiar with a vampire's lack of control. He died from Damon's reaction to the hurt that he felt. It was one second, and his neck was snapped. Jeremy has to feel grateful that she needed answers and didn't jump to the neck snapping.
He shoves back against the car when she pushes him again and then he pushes himself away from the car once she releases him. Jeremy fell against that instead of falling to the pavement, small favors. He glances at her with frustration.
"Yeah, it does. It changes something about everyone. Sometimes just an eye color, sometimes your ability to tell a lie," Jeremy says, raising an eyebrow as she must... obviously be trying to lie and failing. He breathes in and then out. "No, you're not. But you've gotten really good at pretending."
Katherine had fooled him at first even with the hair.
It's a little scary considering how many people in the city know his sister and how hard it will be for her to have to tell everyone that she has a twin. Except not exactly a twin.
They look exactly alike, and Katherine is really good at pretending to be Elena that this just spells a potential disaster even if Katherine can't directly lie. He's really thankful for that much.
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She isn't going to apologize. Jeremy's offended. Maybe bruised. But, at least he doesn't fall to the ground. Not that she would care. She's too busy caring about her own problems.
"I can lie," she snaps, rolling her eyes. "I don't pretend. I act like her when I have to. When I'm asked." It worked when she had been lesser known, when people weren't expecting her to show up -- like the Spanish Inquisition. "But, you're right. I was getting good at being her."
She should really get off the hair.
This confusion is going to bother her sooner rather than later.
"How would that even work. How can I just suddenly..." She can't even say it. It's completely absurd. Damn it. But, she'll abandon this idea for the time being. Explore it later, you can be sure she'll be doing that. "Is Elena not usually on this side of town?"
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He is bruised but considering she could have snapped his neck, he's counting his blessing at the moment.
"Really? I haven't really seen you lie yet," Jeremy says, and he's not trying to add to the frustration that she's obviously experiencing. It's just a statement. "Wait, how often are you asked?" He knows of the one time at least, and he's grateful she was there instead of his sister. "...yeah, you were. It's how you fooled me."
He winces at the feeling at his back, but he shoves the pain of that down, taking a step from the car but maintaining his distance from Katherine.
Jeremy shakes his head. He doesn't have answers to those questions, and now she's asking him questions. "Fine, I answer your questions and I ask more of my own. No, she's not usually on this side of the city. We don't live here, don't go to school here."
He pauses, narrowing his gaze at her. "Why was Stefan with you?"
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He doesn't know. She could have -- been Elena only momentarily as part of a plan. A plan that she herself would never decide to do-slash- execute. No, she knows she's between a rock and this ugly car. And Jeremy Gilbert but he's always an afterthought.
"Two, three times?" Why does how many times matter? "Thanks. I was there." He doesn't need to explain just what happened. She was involved. Katherine keeps her eye on Elena's little brother.
"You're both in school," she says, listening.
Sorry, Jeremy, that's not how this works. But, just because she can't lie, doesn't mean she can't be vague.
"Because Stefan did a bad thing. Several bad things." She looks at Jeremy straight on. "And, no, it's not my fault." Besides, Stefan's bad things streak was just starting. What's frustrating? The possibility of revenge going down the drain. "Who else is in this alternate Chicago?"
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He was trying to remember how many times he's seen her pretend to be Elena, if they match up with the answer she gives. "Just thought you'd need the reminder," Jeremy says since she's so used to lying. It's going to take some adjustments, and he has no doubt that she'll be able to adjust, give vague answers instead of direct answers.
Jeremy looks at her at what she says before he nods. "Yeah, we are," he says, but he hasn't said which school. There are plenty in Chicago, and Elena goes to college.
Bad things. Jeremy keeps that in mind. He doesn't know what it means, because it's frustratingly vague, but he keeps it in mind. He's not really sure what it means, but he's not going to forget either. "Whose fault is it?"
He stares at her. "Why should I tell you?"
But he has a feeling he knows the answer already. Jeremy knows everything and Katherine knows nothing, but she still has all the power even if she can't lie. She did just throw him up against a car even though he is prepared to fight back this time. The only strength a human can have against a vampire is the element of surprise, and he doesn't have that right now. "Damon."
Caroline is here too, but Damon is the one that would likely seek out Katherine anyway eventually especially if she's with Stefan.
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"Well, thank you, Jeremy, for the reminder." There were a few times where she simply pretended to be Elena because she showed up and people called her Elena. There were times she got to Jenna as Elena. And there were times she had been asked specifically. Jeremy ... should be aware of those but, how should she know? Did timelines differ?
"Klaus'" she answered, this game getting very old.
She knows Damon is in the city, thanks to Elena, but she's testing Jeremy. And for the time being he passes that test. Sighing, she looks away. Jeremy is still tense, afraid.
"Man up, Gilbert. I'm not going to kill you."
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"No problem," he says as he folds his arms across his chest, and it hasn't occurred to him that she might not realize he's from a different timeline than her. He knows she is, because she knows all these things that he doesn't.
"When-- Look, the last thing I remember, I died the second time, and Damon was dying of a werewolf bite." Caroline filled him in on the fact that Damon didn't die of that werewolf bite, but he wants Caroline to know that Katherine is here before Katherine knows about Caroline.
It's mostly why he's not mentioning her even if he knows it's inevitable that she find out.
It's less that he's afraid of her and more that he doesn't exactly trust her for obvious reasons, but he does force himself to relax slightly.
"What are you going to do?"
He doubts that she has any idea right now considering she just fell through. It doesn't hurt to ask though.
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"That's the last thing you remember," Katherine asks. Well, that's a few months behind her. Not many. Mostly the summer and into October. But, it's a good deal of time. You woke up here after getting shot?" she adds, thinking about how traumatic that would be.
She reaches into her purse to try her phone again before pulling out a notebook - or a journal she does not recognize.
"Now how did that get in there?" Sorry, Jeremy, she's distracted now. "I don't remember having the urge to Dear Diary my life away." Oh well. "I'm going to make the best of it. What I always do," she says, answering completely truthfully but not because she has to. Jeremy, she doesn't lie all the time. Just, often.
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"Well, not exactly. I was brought back to life first, and I had fallen asleep. When I woke up, I walked right through a Rift," Jeremy says, not that there was any indication that a Rift had been there. He landed in the middle of a party in Chicago. One that had taken on qualities of a Shakespearean play. So that was fun only... not.
It was a pain. Jeremy look at her in confusion when she pulls out the journal.
"Looks like the journal that gets you in touch with the journal network. You can talk to anyone that's connected to the supernatural with it," he informs her, and look, he's being nice enough to tell the truth without asking anything in return. Granted, she could figure it out on her own easily enough.
There's a pause at the answer before he nods in understanding. No, she doesn't always lie, it's just... hard to tell. "Makes you about the same as every wanderer that falls through," he says after a moment, and it's finally missing a lot of the aggressiveness or uncertainty that he'd had before.
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Katherine flips through it.
"How convenient." And less than private. Maybe she won't write everything ever in her journal. Or, anything for that matter. "Anyone?" she asks, wanting clarification.
"Good to know my resilience has inspired others." In the...abstract. "Stefan and I aren't getting home, are we?"
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