Re: [locked] katherine and elenadescendentJanuary 17 2012, 03:54:46 UTC
She let herself believe this might not end up happening. Elena wouldn't have, normally. Not in Mystic Falls. If she truly let herself, she knew she'd just be setting herself up for the moment it all came crashing down on her. But time has a way of blurring things together, and as the months wore on, she believed she might figure it out. Who she is, away from the doppelganger curse. Who she is, as simply Elena.
Katherine sitting across from her is the solid reminder there's no escape from that, and her lips press into a thin line. Stefan said something similar--that Elena was asking the wrong questions, and it just burns further. Let me go, he said. She wasn't there, for any of it. The last she knew of Katherine, she was in the tomb, and before that, she hurt Jenna because Elena wouldn't break up with Stefan.
"I'm aware of where we are. That's not what I meant and you know it," she says bitingly, no room for feigned pleasantries. Katherine never does anything without an agenda, and Elena would much rather know what she wants from the start. She keeps Jeremy's piece of information in mind--Katherine can't outright lie. Then again, neither can angels, supposedly, and they learn to circumnavigate that fairly well.
She swallows a bit as Katherine lists off her achievements. "You wasted no time," she says of Katherine's digging up info. "Not that that surprises me."
Re: [locked] katherine and elenapetrovafireJanuary 17 2012, 04:50:56 UTC
And Katherine has definitely been learning to circumvent that outright setback. And, because she's Katherine, she's worked on perfecting skirting around her rift change.
"Neither did you," she says. "You could have wallowed. Stayed in bed. But? You faced the day. You are woman, hear you roar." A bite of salad follows that as Katherine can't wipe her own smile off her face. She's having too much fun. "And, what? Is it a crime to see what you're up to? I was curious." She leans in. "I'm new. You could show me around. Maybe I'll enroll..." She sits back again, giving the room another look around. "I never went to college and, truth be told, I'm surprised you got there."
She looks down again, setting her fork beside her salad plate on the tray.
"You see, being Elena Gilbert means you have someone after you - what is it? Weekly? I'm a little bit impressed." She takes a bite. "With this taco and with your resilience. And it takes a lot to impress me."
Elena swallows past the tighteness in her throat. She hasn't been able to get that conversation with Stefan out of her mind, and the last person she wants to talk to about it is Katherine. Even a subtle reminder of it. She ignores the smile, ignores the quip, despite the small jolt in her chest.
"That's me, I don't wait, I roar. I might just get a t-shirt that says so," Elena says to her instead, since she is capable of snark, contrary to popular opinion. Her stomach balls up into another knot at the thought of Katherine hanging around on campus on a regular basis. "Somehow, I doubt college will be one of your top priorities."
Not with the Salvatores in Chicago, or so Elena thinks.
"This isn't Mystic Falls, Katherine. It maybe as dangerous, but I'm just like everyone else here," Elena says after a pause, and she doesn't even sound confrontational. It's the truth. The two of them are wanderers, in the same boat as nearly all who fall through, though that's not exactly true, is it? Elena doesn't plan on telling Katherine about Damon's findings, however.
College does seem tedious. She probably won't make it full time, or even part time unless she has to. Though, men she's met have seemed intriguing today. So, maybe, if just for the men. Stefan's MIA, out of it, so, she has to entertain herself somehow.
"I'm not treating it like Mystic Falls," she replies. Does she see a dead Amy Bradley? Mayhem everywhere? No, because Katherine is smart and there's no reason to kill. Not right this second. Why bring the attention to her?
"But, thank you for the warning. I do appreciate your opinion, Elena."
Elena stares at her, wondering why she hasn't left yet. As for the warning, Katherine will sooner or later experience Chicago the way wanderers are forced to. Elena also knows, however, Katherine excels at surviving and adapting.
It doesn't mean there isn't a lot to adapt to, and a lot to survive.
"What happened between Klaus and Stefan?" she asks, arms folded across her chest as she sits across from Katherine. If they get looks from anyone who walks past them, Elena deliberately ignores them. "How does he go from agreeing to leave town with him and end up in a car alongside you?"
"Stefan agreed to leave town to save Damon's life," Katherine offers, feeding only the information she wants fed. "Five months? Later, he ended up in a car alongside me," she adds, explaining, thinking back. "And you can thank Klaus. If you really want to blame anyone." She knows Elena wants to blame Klaus. Elena wants to blame her, too.
"I didn't do this to Stefan. I was helping," she explains. "Believe it or not, I'm not the source of every problem those two have." She means Stefan and Damon and she gets that Elena is following.
Eventually, Elena needs to catch on. Katherine has no problem explaining things because Stefan is too far gone - to be with Elena, at least. But, Elena's asking such broad questions. What happened? Time passed.
"It's not blame I'm looking for, Katherine," Elena says, and those are all things she was told in a general sense, but it's so hard to grasp the bigger picture when she wasn't there to live them herself. The time jump from where they are to where she stood--it's jarring, and it leaves her feeling as if she has no proper footing. "I wasn't there for any of it."
That, she can't argue with, and she does follow. Stefan and Damon have their own history, though Katherine has added plenty to it. Elena knows, instinctively, if Stefan is to be reached--it won't be because of Katherine. It won't be because of Elena.
"Except, that you were. You were there every step of the way." Katherine needles, knowing full well this Elena feels lost in a sea of confusion, anger and Stefan Salvatore. But, here she had been, with the other Salvatore. She'd missed him, that much was apparent. But, Elena seemed to have carved out a life for herself. Katherine finds herself jealous of this fact. Perhaps, it's because of the patterns she sets for herself, but Katherine can never have a real life. She has to spend her time staying ten steps ahead.
Elena is right about Damon which is why Katherine has kept her distance.
"You're assuming I want to help," she says, taking a few more stabs at her salad.
"Not every step, it would seem," Elena shoots back. She certainly was nowhere around when Katherine and Stefan decided to high tail it out of Mystic Falls, leaving behind god knows what kind of destruction. It hits exactly where Katherine wants it to. Elena bristles almost imperceptibly, and there's certainly enough anger and confusion and hurt. She got too comfortable. She almost started to believe that this wasn't going to happen.
She is different, though. Chicago has changed her, even if she's still Elena. She's older--closer to nineteen than eighteen--and forced into a world without Stefan. Without Klaus and the need for a doppelganger (so far).
"I'm not assuming. You said as much over the journals," Elena points out. They both were weirdly enough agreeable, though of course that wasn't supposed to last.
"You and I both know that neither of us will be able to help him," she offers. A morsel of real, hard-hitting truth. Even if Katherine wants to, and she's not saying she does (but she does), Katherine can't. She herself set him on this path. When they separated that first day, she really never saw him again -- that he or Elena know of, anyway. Or, perhaps, he had. Perhaps Stefan felt her presence. It's not like he was ever able to realize, to know that Katherine was feet away at that concert, sitting at a cafe the day Stefan Salvatore jumped naked into the Trevi fountain. Or, had she not been there? Well, Elena and Stefan? Would never know the real answer.
No, Katherine programmed a war machine and she has to live with the residual consequences.
"I think," because she knows Elena cares about what she thinks. "You should stop obsessing about what you've missed and sorting everything out and you should continue to live this life," she says. hands coming up. "Stefan isn't going anywhere." Not far, anyway. "And you have a little brother to look after. And a vampire - and a werewolf. You really seem to have your hands full."
These aren't idle threats, just facts but Katherine is well aware of her history and how this really sounds. And she could care less. Elena will think what she thinks.
"And yet that won't stop you, will it?" Elena offers in return as challenge. It isn't in Elena to give up, for entirely different reasons, even if the truth is hitting her in the face. She isn't doing it in the hopes that she and Stefan will get back together. Even if there was no possibility of that ever happening--and Elena can't let herself believe that in her heart of hearts--she would want to help Stefan anyway, because of what they were, because she will always love him and she can't accept this is who he'll be from now on.
She will not lose hope and no one will convince her that makes her pathetic. Hope is what has kept her going when nothing else would've gotten her out of bed.
"I'm not obsessing. Stefan needs help, even if it's not you or me that will be able to reach him," Elena says. Wanting to help doesn't mean she can't hold on to the life she's made here, also. It doesn't have to be an either/or situation. Does it? She stiffens at the mention of Jeremy and her friends.
"Leave them alone, Katherine," she says, and she almost sounds tired. "Stop pretending to be me. There's no need for it."
She doesn't need to challenge. One thing, Katherine is good at is not taking the bait. Usually, she has someone doing that for her. But, she isn't going to answer her. In truth, Stefan doesn't want to be helped or stopped. She knows this and the sooner Elena gets this, the sooner Elena will realize Stefan will come back to them. Well, hopefully he wouldn't come back to Elena. Hopefully, once he realized how much Katherine sacrificed -- for him -- yes, for herself but for him. She saved those boys. She believes this fully.
"But, that hurts. Realizing that you can't reach him. Because, you can't Elena," she says.
"I have. And you don't know what I've done so don't presume all I've done today is... be you." Even though... she has.
Katherine sitting across from her is the solid reminder there's no escape from that, and her lips press into a thin line. Stefan said something similar--that Elena was asking the wrong questions, and it just burns further. Let me go, he said. She wasn't there, for any of it. The last she knew of Katherine, she was in the tomb, and before that, she hurt Jenna because Elena wouldn't break up with Stefan.
"I'm aware of where we are. That's not what I meant and you know it," she says bitingly, no room for feigned pleasantries. Katherine never does anything without an agenda, and Elena would much rather know what she wants from the start. She keeps Jeremy's piece of information in mind--Katherine can't outright lie. Then again, neither can angels, supposedly, and they learn to circumnavigate that fairly well.
She swallows a bit as Katherine lists off her achievements. "You wasted no time," she says of Katherine's digging up info. "Not that that surprises me."
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"Neither did you," she says. "You could have wallowed. Stayed in bed. But? You faced the day. You are woman, hear you roar." A bite of salad follows that as Katherine can't wipe her own smile off her face. She's having too much fun. "And, what? Is it a crime to see what you're up to? I was curious." She leans in. "I'm new. You could show me around. Maybe I'll enroll..." She sits back again, giving the room another look around. "I never went to college and, truth be told, I'm surprised you got there."
She looks down again, setting her fork beside her salad plate on the tray.
"You see, being Elena Gilbert means you have someone after you - what is it? Weekly? I'm a little bit impressed." She takes a bite. "With this taco and with your resilience. And it takes a lot to impress me."
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"That's me, I don't wait, I roar. I might just get a t-shirt that says so," Elena says to her instead, since she is capable of snark, contrary to popular opinion. Her stomach balls up into another knot at the thought of Katherine hanging around on campus on a regular basis. "Somehow, I doubt college will be one of your top priorities."
Not with the Salvatores in Chicago, or so Elena thinks.
"This isn't Mystic Falls, Katherine. It maybe as dangerous, but I'm just like everyone else here," Elena says after a pause, and she doesn't even sound confrontational. It's the truth. The two of them are wanderers, in the same boat as nearly all who fall through, though that's not exactly true, is it? Elena doesn't plan on telling Katherine about Damon's findings, however.
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"I'm not treating it like Mystic Falls," she replies. Does she see a dead Amy Bradley? Mayhem everywhere? No, because Katherine is smart and there's no reason to kill. Not right this second. Why bring the attention to her?
"But, thank you for the warning. I do appreciate your opinion, Elena."
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It doesn't mean there isn't a lot to adapt to, and a lot to survive.
"What happened between Klaus and Stefan?" she asks, arms folded across her chest as she sits across from Katherine. If they get looks from anyone who walks past them, Elena deliberately ignores them. "How does he go from agreeing to leave town with him and end up in a car alongside you?"
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"I didn't do this to Stefan. I was helping," she explains. "Believe it or not, I'm not the source of every problem those two have." She means Stefan and Damon and she gets that Elena is following.
Eventually, Elena needs to catch on. Katherine has no problem explaining things because Stefan is too far gone - to be with Elena, at least. But, Elena's asking such broad questions. What happened? Time passed.
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That, she can't argue with, and she does follow. Stefan and Damon have their own history, though Katherine has added plenty to it. Elena knows, instinctively, if Stefan is to be reached--it won't be because of Katherine. It won't be because of Elena.
It'll be because of Damon.
"And just how do you plan on helping him now?"
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Elena is right about Damon which is why Katherine has kept her distance.
"You're assuming I want to help," she says, taking a few more stabs at her salad.
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She is different, though. Chicago has changed her, even if she's still Elena. She's older--closer to nineteen than eighteen--and forced into a world without Stefan. Without Klaus and the need for a doppelganger (so far).
"I'm not assuming. You said as much over the journals," Elena points out. They both were weirdly enough agreeable, though of course that wasn't supposed to last.
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No, Katherine programmed a war machine and she has to live with the residual consequences.
"I think," because she knows Elena cares about what she thinks. "You should stop obsessing about what you've missed and sorting everything out and you should continue to live this life," she says. hands coming up. "Stefan isn't going anywhere." Not far, anyway. "And you have a little brother to look after. And a vampire - and a werewolf. You really seem to have your hands full."
These aren't idle threats, just facts but Katherine is well aware of her history and how this really sounds. And she could care less. Elena will think what she thinks.
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She will not lose hope and no one will convince her that makes her pathetic. Hope is what has kept her going when nothing else would've gotten her out of bed.
"I'm not obsessing. Stefan needs help, even if it's not you or me that will be able to reach him," Elena says. Wanting to help doesn't mean she can't hold on to the life she's made here, also. It doesn't have to be an either/or situation. Does it? She stiffens at the mention of Jeremy and her friends.
"Leave them alone, Katherine," she says, and she almost sounds tired. "Stop pretending to be me. There's no need for it."
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"But, that hurts. Realizing that you can't reach him. Because, you can't Elena," she says.
"I have. And you don't know what I've done so don't presume all I've done today is... be you." Even though... she has.
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