[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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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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