[rp][w/ Elena] finding out about Josef
Damon is with Elena. They're in a lounge in the Tower, and he has likely only come over to troll her like he do while she is busy with getting ready for college. He is leaning back in the chair by the fireplace, drinking something alcoholic and searching through the journal for anything important
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Everything that he needs is is in Josef's office so he hasn't had any need to head that way again. It's not like he needs any help to increase his blood lust lately. The feeling of it increases all on its own without the smell of blood.
There's plenty of places to smell blood in a city like Chicago.
Damon steps through the door. He even knocks for a change, because he is trying to be on his best behavior. Jeremy lets him in and tells him that Elena is downstairs in her room when Damon asks, and it looks for a moment like Jeremy is going to say more but then he seems to think better of it and doesn't.
What could he say anyway?
I saw that place afterward. I'm sorry.
Damon wouldn't want to hear it, and he already heard from Elena what he'd done to her. Not that he's not grateful that Elena was kept far, far from that street. It's just further proof that Damon is extra... Damon, extra dangerous, and Jeremy won't be looking to get his neck snapped again anytime soon.
Even if he does come back from it.
Damon expected accusation or anger so he is... slightly surprised when he hears neither. "Returning your necklace," he answers, holding it out to her by the chain.
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More so now, as it's the one thing that links her to Stefan, in a way, even if there's always that reminder of what she's missing. She is older, much older it feels, than the girl that first fell through the Rift, and that girl had already learned more than Elena once thought she ever had to when she was normal, and the life she led was normal, and the problems she faced were normal and non-threatening.
It's not the first time she's lost it and it's not the first time it's felt like she might never get it back.
The sight of it, for the time being, distracts her from what rocky territory they may be on and what doubts she may have when it comes to him and his involvement in everything as of late. She releases a small breath that almost sounds like a disbelieving laugh, stepping forward to reach for it once it's held out to her.
If she'd had that necklace, he wouldn't have been able to do what he did.
There's no telling what would've happened if she had gone off on her own, but that also settles in afterward and she's quiet as she retrieves it, clasping it around her neck.
Once it's safely secured, her fingertips trace the surface of it.
"Where did you find it?" she asks. The tower was left an absolute mess after that disaster, and she'd looked for it without any sort of hope of finding what she'd been searching for.
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From what he's read, the vampires in this universe do not have that power so there is less of a concern that someone else would use it against her here. Like someone in the Society, there's plenty of relief over the fact that that isn't a possibility here. ....as far as he knows.
It doesn't mean that he isn't as careful as he possibly can be as much as he possibly can be.
Damon watches the expression on her face as she takes the necklace in, and he would not be at all surprised if she was researching things on her own now.
"It was kicked under the door of one of the empty rooms," Damon says,and he even got into those rooms in the correct way without kicking down doors. No unwanted attention for him, but he had been determined that she get the necklace because she knows it reminds her of Stefan.
And he misses his brother too even if he'll never admit that out loud.
There's the slightest of pauses as he looks at her. Elena hasn't cut him out. She hasn't taken the necklace and shut the door, which is what he expected her to do.
"...he left everything to me," Damon says, and it takes him a moment to work through the locking of his own jaw to say it, but he manages it.
He has it all. He has the resources and the money and the buildings that Josef had, and it means that there's more than enough money for them to buy or do whatever they need to keep her safe, keep Jeremy safe as he knows that is her main concern.
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Vervain doesn't exist in this universe, as far as she knows and has researched.
Vampires that fall from their world could use compulsion if they wanted to and there would be nothing to stop them from doing so, and as much as she hates and resents Damon using it on her, it would be nothing in comparison to what other people would request of her or anyone if they chose to.
She will be as careful as she has ever been with the necklace from now on.
"Thank you," she says, releasing a small breath once the necklace is back on. She almost feels naked without it, can remember when Stefan gave it to her, even if she didn't know why at the time.
And how ironic he gave it to her to keep Damon from using that very same compulsion.
She does shut the door, but after he's stepped inside. She doesn't say anything at first after his declaration, only slips her hands into the back pockets of her jeans as she digests this new piece of information.
"That's... a lot, from what I've gathered," she says with another small breath. She only went to the club once, to talk to Damon, but she met Josef in passing.
All she knows is he had power and he had a lot of money, but the fact he left everything to Damon is more proof to Elena they really were friends, and Josef trusted Damon, which is a huge thing, whether anybody knows it or not. "This is a good thing, right?"
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But it is an improvement over his own reaction not long ago. A very mild improvement though he is grateful he hasn't run into her since what happened.
It would not turn out as well for the time being.
He watches her put the necklace on and nods when she says Thank you. Damon steps into the room when she shuts the door. He has a tendency to not really look at her, but to look at all of the items in her room and erase any personal space that she might have. At the moment, he's giving her space, but he does look around the room, notices the book on the bed.
Damon looks over at her. "It is a lot. Buildings, property, money, cars. Do you want a car, Elena?" Well, he can get her one very easily and she might be safer in one of those than walking out on the sidewalk though he doesn't know if it would really interest her or not. He can get them anything, which is a lot of power and he's comfortable with that. Despite his sarcasm, he has a calculating mind and he would know how to use it, not squander it, but use those assets to continue bringing money in.
Although his attention will be all about keeping her safe from the Society and getting revenge on them for what they did to his friend. "I haven't gone through most of it yet," he says, and it's not that he has been putting it off. There is just so much to go through, and it... hurts.
So he hasn't gone through it quickly. He turns to her at the question, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back against the wall. "Anything we need at our fingertips. Practically. Yes, it's... good." And yes, he said we and our. "You could go on a trip to anywhere in the world."
It's said with a smirk but he's half serious, half serious about getting her and Jeremy out of here if necessary.
Not that she would listen and not that Damon would be able to force them.
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She follows his gaze as it notices the book, and she doesn't rush to close it, as she doesn't think she has anything to hide. Elena is in her full rights to learn as much about every set of species in Chicago, and what being the oldest of those species may mean, so she only folds her arms across her chest.
...And that comment jerks her back from everything else, and she lifts a brow and almost smirks in disbelief. "You want to buy me a car?" she echoes after him. Elena can only imagine what kind of safety modifications he would make to such a thing, but she is Elena. She would not want him buying her gifts, even on her birthday.
Elena nods without saying anything else.
It's not as if a lot of time has passed. It's been a week, and it took so long before she could ever go through her parents' things. It's not the same thing, and they are not the same people, but grief is grief and it hurts.
She knows what happens when he's hurt.
"We already went half way around the world, remember?" she asks, spinning her index finger around in place. Plane ride probably doesn't hold a candle to a magic carpet now. But she knows what he means, doesn't ignore the we and our, and her answer is a half-serious answer of its own. She sits on the foot of her bed as she contemplates the rest.
Elena would not go anywhere. If she was discovered, if they were directly targeted, she would want Jeremy safe and as far away from it as possible. This kind of threat is unlike any other she's ever encountered, and she already learned from her brother how much collateral damage happens. But they already had this discussion, and she knows Jeremy would not go anywhere.
It's a difficult balance she is attempting to achieve here.
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He cannot really afford to not know what's going on in her life considering the way this case is going so he will make his best, concentrated effort to play it cool, to be on his... best behavior though it obviously won't be nearly as good as say Stefan's. But he's not Stefan and never claimed to be and she knows that... intimately. She just expects him to be better than he is, believes he can be at any rate.
Damon will ask about the book in a moment.
He looks at her seriously at that smirk and that brow lift. "You and your brother would be able to use it," Damon says with ease, folding his arms across his chest. "It would be safer than walking on the sidewalk and it wouldn't even dent my current funds."
Not even a little bit, Elena. Josef was very, very rich. Damon had known this before he died, but he's starting to learn more and more about how rich he really had been now that he has it all in his hands. There are properties and condos that are all of the highest caliber, because Josef would stand for no less.
He'll be moving out of his current apartment and into one that is much nicer especially since he doesn't think the Society will be poking around there anymore. It was one of the biggest reasons that he moved into it in the first place.
Damon smirks just slightly at her though the smirk doesn't say.
"This time it would be of your own choice, for as long as you want without me in toe," he says, and it sounds like more than a few benefits, not that he likes the thought of her being out of his sights. However, she would be safer anywhere else in the world than in Chicago if the Society were reigning down on this city.
Not that he actually thinks she would take him up on this offer, but there are times when he wants it especially in the aftermath of everything with Josef, with Josef's... girl.
There's a sharp pain because it is not-- it is a firm reminder of how easy death comes especially at the hands of the Society, and they would not be looking to capture her, not most of them, not the angels and demons. They would be looking to destroy her before she could be used to break the curse by vampires or werewolves.
Damon picks up the book then, raising an eyebrow at her as he looks at her. "Doing some research?" He flips through it. "I didn't know this was such a big subject in college these days. Guess it's that whole Twilight craze."
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And she knows what you're trying to do, adding her brother into the mix like that, Damon.
Jeremy's been fine without one.
"I'm not leaving, Damon," she says with a sigh, and it's true if the Society is moving in on Chicago it wouldn't be safe--but they're all over, aren't they? That's what makes them powerful. "From what we've been told, the Society is scattered throughout the whole world. And this is home."
Jeremy is finally being given some sense of normalcy. He's making friends. He likes living here and wanted to from the start. Elena can tell. The people in the house, even the pet, something they never had back home, it all lends to some sort of normalcy in a world that is very much not normal.
She wouldn't take that away from him again.
"It's not for school," Elena says at last, grabbing the book from him. It's only to flip through the pages until she ends up in the one that's most of interest to her, as she has no desire to hide the fact she will be investigating. "You've been explained how guardian angels operate in this world, haven't you? They meet the gaze of the person they're meant to guard, a link between them is created, and they're bound to them for life."
Elena's learned a lot about Callings and about the history of Wanderers and Chicago in general, through living in the Tower as long as she did and knowing Martha as well as she does now.
"Witches are extremely rare in this universe, and they aren't as we know them in our own world." Not exactly like Bonnie. She points to the page that explains it better. "They don't have a Calling, exactly, but once they meet the gaze of an elder werewolf or vampire, they're basically bound to them for life of service, and they are obviously not happy about it." As sections detailing the rebellions of those witches would suggest.
"Their blood or the blood of their descendant is also needed for the ritual."
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However, her brother is not Elena. If Jeremy has a car, it could be his and he knows that Elena would drive it anyway.
So she'll have to take up not accepting his cars with Jeremy instead of with him.
"I didn't mean leave permanently," Damon says as he looks sideways at her though he is a little relieved that she is not leaving truth be told. He would feel better if he could keep an eye on her though he is well aware that he can't control everything, can't keep her safe from everything. "They are all around the world, but if something were to happen here..."
It would be safest if she were not here, if Jeremy weren't, but he also would want to keep an eye out on her himself. Selfishly.
And he knows she won't leave.
Damon looks at her when she takes the book back from him, and he smirks, tilting his head slightly when she says it is not for school. "I read about it," he says nodding as he has done all the research that he could about this world either from Josef himself or from the books that are available out there. He needed to know all the details of this place so he could best function, so he could keep her safest.
He looks at her at what she says, and this does strike a spark of curiosity within him. They could use more allies, more allies that won't just end up dead like so many others.
"...so if we were to find an unhappy witch, they might be willing to help us bring down their... 'masters'," Damon says thoughtfully but out loud because he did say 'we' and 'us'. Now he potentially has the resources to find a witch or find someone that would know a witch. They could really use an ally that's a witch. "And if they're bound to elders, they must... be powerful."
Witches in their own universe were powerful, powerful enough that Klaus wanted to tote one around as his own according to Jeremy.
And he has to imagine if they get bound like that, they must have incredible power.
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Whenever she starts to feel that righteous and indignant fury on her own behalf at what he did, she immediately afterward pictures Jeremy's face, the way he looked when he walked in, the way he looked when she sat next to him on the floor, and it becomes all too muddled.
It always does, even if she wants it to be black and white.
It isn't in this world.
"I'm in school and so is Jeremy," Elena points out. She has her own selfish reasons for wanting to stay, but it's more than that. Danger would follow them wherever they go, because it's something about her. It followed her into a different world. It doesn't matter where she goes. "We'll deal with that if and when the time comes."
Elena is leaving the options open. Things are very different here than they were in Mystic Falls. There were so many people she cared about, so many people that would be hurt or killed because of her. In this instance, it's more or less Jeremy and Damon.
She will be looking at every option as long as he's safe.
Elena glances at him knowingly at that spark of curiosity, as she'd been thinking of the exact same thing. They know how helpful it can be to have a powerful witch on their side.
"They would do it gladly if it meant they stopped being their servants. We could use a powerful witch on our side. The records of how they're treated, it's inhuman," Elena says, as she is tentatively saying 'we', as well. He was the one who first alerted her of this. It's been them from the start. "They gain their immortality. Only the most powerful of witches could successfully bind to either of them."
Elena opens up another page where it says what she mostly paraphrased, to prove she's not making it up. "Breaking the curse is the opposite of what they would want. The woman who gave the lecture on the trials of the 1400s, she made it sound like there are no witches in existence. But we know that's not true--or they wouldn't be able to break the curse in the first place."
Their blood is needed.
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If Jeremy knew Elena almost ended up there, his face would be that much paler. The narration cannot even imagine his reaction if he'd discovered Elena there in the aftermath, which is what could have happened if she hadn't stayed behind.
No, it's never so simple to be black and white at all. Everything is more complicated than that.
"I don't think school will be as important in that situation," Damon points out as well. However, danger will follow her wherever she goes or so it seems to be that way. He doesn't really want it to be that way, but it's the life of a doppleganger. "But okay. We'll deal with it then."
It helps to know she is leaving it open as an option. Things are different here, because there is just Jeremy to worry about and the Society has more reasons than the doppleganger to end up in Chicago and start wreaking havoc and hell upon this city.
They have to be brought down whether or not they know about Elena or could ever know about her if this city wants to survive, if the people in it want to continue to living.
It's the same play in an entirely new game.
"That's what I thought. No one wants to live in servitude like that. Freedom will be a powerful persuasive tool, more powerful than anything else," Damon says quietly, and he doesn't care at all about inhuman treatment of people, but that gives a witch more motivation to want an out. "So they have more than enough power to be helpful to us while gaining something they want."
So it's not like they would be using the witch or putting them in any more danger than they're already in. "...that's right. Very smart, Elena." Though he is not at all surprised by this, she is very smart and always has been. "So there have to be witches out there, but the issue... will be finding them."
But now he has resources to use and a direction to go in.
It's a start.
Bela is supposed to be smoothing things over with the Crowbar while looking into the artifacts, because it's her deal. This can be his deal. He can knock around a few heads, figure out what he can about it.
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Elena knows this, and it's why she doesn't appear convinced when he says it, gaze narrowing as she studies him. As if deciding whether or not she wants to push it. She decides she doesn't. It's not as if she will accept, the matter is resolved in her mind, and she has no idea he'll go to her brother instead.
In the end, when it comes to Jeremy's safety, there isn't a lot Elena can't be convinced about. There are lines she won't cross, but ultimately, it's a car, and she does know one is safer traveling with it than on foot with the kind of things that pop out on every random street one finds themselves in.
"We don't know if there will be a situation," Elena says, as she doesn't want to immediately jump to the worst conclusion. She relaxes her shoulders once he agrees they'll deal with it when the time comes, and for now, they can focus on figuring out the next step.
She is the doppelganger.
In Mystic Falls, that was what everyone seemed to be after.
Here in Chicago, while she's a key element for the ritual, she is not the only thing they'd be interested in. There are a wide variety of things they're after, and Elena would be just one more of those 'things.' She's been able to slip under the radar so far, as she has been careful as she said she would be, and she plans on continuing to do so.
The Society would be a threat regardless, but Elena wants to make sure it's not more of a threat, to her or to the people she cares about.
It's dangerous enough as it is.
"They're more like slaves. It's repulsive. I can't imagine anyone wanting to remain in that position. It'd be dangerous for them either way, but if one of them was already looking to double cross them..." They wouldn't even have to sway them over to their side. They'd know they'd have to work together with someone else if they were to achieve something like that.
Elena can't think of anything more important than their own freedom.
She glances upward at him with the smallest of smirks at his ...that's right, as she isn't surprised he'd connect the dots easily and fast enough. When they're not at each other's throats, they don't have trouble working together. "There may not be many, but there are, and we have to find them. It won't be easy, but... it's a start."
There's no way of knowing she's echoing his thoughts.
It's something to go on and Damon has more resources than he had before. It doesn't look as bleak as it once did, in this particular aspect. It's bleak in general, because she doesn't forget lives were murdered, and that's more important.
She would never lose sight of something like that.
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Or at least Damon would get bored. He doesn't do simple for a reason, for multiple reasons, but no, it never is simple. Damon looks as innocently as he can when she looks at him so suspiciously. Obviously, Damon completely fails at any innocent expression.
However, he does know that she will accept things for Jeremy's safety that she wouldn't otherwise.
"No, we don't know, but that is why I'm laying out options now as opposed to later," Damon says, and it is his way of showing her that they do have options if the situation occurs. There is quite a lot that they can do, and it's not going to be like in Mystic Falls.
They have fewer people that they would have to keep from harm's way, fewer people that could be used against Elena.
On the other hand, the Society is a lot bigger than Klaus so he isn't about to underestimate what they are going up against, but they do have options this time. Potentially. Damon is not going to let her lose anyone else, not like she did in Mystic Falls according to Jeremy.
And Damon can't... actually imagine what would happen to Elena if her brother did die. In a more permanent fashion this time. While his top concern is her safety, Jeremy kind of falls under that umbrella because of that.
"No, they wouldn't be able to use all that power to do what tey wanted with it. They would be bound by someone else," Damon says as he looks at her, letting it work through his head for a moment. "It would be easier to sway them to our way of thinking."
Despite the fact that they are so unlike each other in so many ways, despite the fact that they frequently argue over their many differences, they do think similarly sometimes or at least right now.
When they're not at each other's throats, they work really well together and it's what helps them work around or through their rocky... friendship more than anything else. They have a common goal here.
"A start is all I need," he says after a moment as he calculates in his head, the best way to go about this, the best people to contact. "And there are many reasons someone would need a witch that could have nothing to do with the Society."
Which would decrease suspicion when it comes to the Society figuring out someone is looking to bring them down.
It's all about playing it close to the vest right now, and Damon can do that easily. There's hope, not that Damon really does the hope-thing. There's something else to focus on and be driven after and go after, and it's what he really needed, whether Elena knew it or not, to get back on a much more stable ground.
This is not how people would think that most people would need in the face of their grief, but Damon is not most people.
If that wasn't already exceedingly obvious, hey world, Damon is not like most people, and now he has a purpose, he has something specific to go after and he will be going after it head on, unrelentingly.
...And also, he has to give Jeremy a car.
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