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 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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He nods at the question. "Any wanderer, which is you and me. Any angel, demon, supernatural human that's around," Jeremy says, folding his arms across his chest. Naturally, the entries can be locked too, but he's not going to point that out at the moment.
Jeremy rolls his eyes at the first comment before he pauses at the second. "None of us are," he says. "They've been searching for a way back for a long time."
And he doesn't want to go back.
"What's waiting for you back home anyway?" Last he heard, she was on the run. There's no more running in a place like this. "There's no Klaus here." Not yet. He doesn't let himself think that, pushes it aside.
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She's just making sure. She doesn't appreciate the rolled eyes.
"No, there isn't." But, Klaus isn't something she's going to discuss with a kid. She has many, many rage and fear-filled feelings regarding Klaus and now? Is not the time. The answer she keeps inside is nothing. Stefan is here and right now that's what matters. Klaus isn't and that's a cherry ontop of that cake. But, Stefan was also on his way to going -- off the rails. So, she'll have that she has to monitor.
"I think the question and answer part of this session has ended. I do hope you've written any last minute notes." She means it from either side. This is an exhausting conversation. But, she has gleaned information. "And no, I'm not accepting final questions." She backs off, dropping her journal back in her bag. "Say hi to Damon for me."
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He's a kid. The eye rolling comes with the territory.
He nods, and he doesn't need to discuss it with her at all. Klaus isn't here, which is the important thing. Jeremy has his own fears in regards to Klaus, his own anger though he imagines it's so, so much less than her own. He's not here though, and as much as she might want revenge, it makes life a little easier or the time being.
"I've got it all covered," Jeremy says in answer, and he shakes his head. "I don't need anything else right now." He needs to find his sister and tell her everything he's learned at this point. Jeremy grimaces at that last line. "Yeah, that'll go over well."
He lets out a breath before he turns away from her with a slight wave, glad to be on his way back home.
"But I'll tell him."
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