voyagers | party post | hang the mistletoe and stand by me~ ♫

Okay, to be perfectly honest. Helen really liked the idea of all this mistletoe everywhere. Because who isn't excited for Christmas? Maybe there's even a room full of snow somewhere. She'll be adding that to her list of things to find, along with her ball pool room.

So. Yes. Very excited.

Until suddenly she's stuck on the spot and can't move. Literally. Every muscle has actually refused to budge and she's stuck to the spot, staring around desperately. She can't even talk and ask for help.

She's been like this for half an hour. This isn't cool any more.

When Matt comes around the corner, he doesn't anticipate being pulled towards the girl he brushed by while doing so, like she's a planet dragging him into her orbit. But it's over before he can make sense of it, his feet rooted to the spot he winds up in just mere inches in front of her.

"Okay. And that would be my first official dose of ship weirdness."

No, Rebekah having no clue who he was -- that was the first dose. But he'd rather not put more thought than he already has towards that and count this as his first brush with the ship's shenanigans.

WELP.

Okay, well Helen wasn't expecting this to happen. Her eyes followed Matt as he passed her, but she didn't think the mistletoe would draw him towards her and get him as stuck as she was. She thought she'd be the only one stuck here.

The mistletoe's power still makes her unable to speak, unable to move a muscle. She can blink, and register some kind of facial expression, but that's about it. Which is why when she looks up at the poor guy stuck beside her, the only thing she can do is look hopeless up, blinking furiously.

If he could read her mind, she's currently be uttering: 'Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp'.

He looks up, following her gaze, and spots the mistletoe.

Oh.

That thing can't be holding her in place like that... can it? Then again, it totally just sucked him in here like a vacuum powered by magnets and has his feet effectively glued to the floor. So who knows, if he doesn't do something to get them out of this soon, he may wind up a speechless and stiff as a board as she is.

"This is a problem I may know the solution to, but only if you promise not to slap the crap out of me after I fix it. Okay?"

Let's go with yes, yes it is. Helen can barely believe it herself, and that's with living in a world where weird things is pretty much the norm, anyway. Well, not so much these days, a lot of the 'weird things' have calmed down in the last few decades - but they still happen sometimes.

She gives him a look that's half-questioning, half-saying "totally not gonna hit you if it means I get free".

Knowing it's mistletoe, she has a sneaking suspicious of what it's going to be. Talk about embarrassment central. She's a teenager, okay? Awkward turtle is the way with this stuff. It's how she rolls.

She blinks once, half-wishing she could cringe. Okay. Promise.

Cora has this thing about mistletoe. It almost killed her once. She doesn't like it.

That's ... about all there is to it.

So when she sees it, everywhere, she takes it a bit personally. She is essentially tearing it off and throwing it overboard every time she sees it, and while some of it actually is self-preservation (who knows who this ship has actually managed to pick up), most of it is just overblown teenage resentment from a girl with the emotional maturity of a potato. These things happen. It's the holidays.

(Apparently.)

This plan goes pretty well until she gets caught in one of the magical ones. She tries to jump up and tear it down but her feet are glued to the floor, and she can't otherwise seem to move. She gets her arms for balance but walking (or more importantly, fleeing) is out of the question. She is well and truly stuck until someone decides to kiss her and set her free. Which will take a while, because unless you are a certain tall teenage werewolf, she probably will punch you in the face if you try.

Her life is hard. Feel free to mock her for it.

Alek isn't doing much better, though he accepts that out of the two of them, Cora wins.

Mistletoe hasn't been chasing after him, but he's got bells on. No, really. There are actual reindeer bells hovering above his head, signaling his arrival wherever he chooses to go. Trying to get rid of them is futile, but you can bet that Alek has made several attempts. This may be why Cora hears the bells before she seeks Alek. Once he does come into view, he almost immediately stops in his tracks.

He tilts his head in adorable confusion when he sees her. "Cora?"

Is that mistletoe? Because that looks like mistletoe. Oh, god. That's mistletoe.

Yep. That's totally mistletoe.

Cora does hear him coming which had lead to her trying to lean forward a bit, but she can't go very far. She still catches his scent before she actually sees him which leads to her looking wide eyed and uncomfortable because while under other circumstances, him catching her under the mistletoe might even be welcome, she's still not really sure what to do in this situation.

Eventually she has to say something though, so ...

"Hi."

"...Hi."

Now, Alek isn't going to lie. He's thought about kissing Cora before. Many times, in fact. With increasing frequency as of late - there was even a dream he'll keep to himself, lest Derek Hale come and murder him - and he's been trying to build up the nerve to actually do it. But this is not exactly what he had in mind. Still, he's lived in Chicago for far too long not to know what's happened to her.

"You can't move, can you?"

If anyone else had asked her that question, she probably would have come off with a short, snarky remark that probably included violence. Alek asks however, and she can feel her cheeks burning and she hopes that she doesn't look as red as she feels that she is. He isn't the only one who's been thinking about kissing, curious about what would happen if they did, but these aren't the circumstances she was thinking of either.

Her head ducks a bit as she nods, her hair falling a bit to cover her cheeks. "Yeah. At least my feet anyway."

Alek bites his lip, as though he is deliberating with himself.

He glances upward toward the mistletoe, and then risks a glance Cora's way. This is really not what he had in mind, but the thought of anyone else kissing her is upsetting to him, even if he has no right to those emotions. He can feel that telltale twinge rise up his chest regardless, and he scratches the back of his head lamely in response to them.

"I can ... " his voice trails off, pointing to the mistletoe and then back at her. He is the best at this, clearly.

Very good, Alek. Very suave.

But there's a bit of welcome relief in her eyes when he offers. He's the only person she wants to be kissing her. She would rather stand here for days than let it be anyone else. Not that she'd actually say something that sappy and romantic out loud, but she is that stubborn. She would just keep waiting, even if he never came. But he's here and he seems to want to, so she doesn't bother to waste time waffling over it.

She just nods again. "I mean ... if you want to."

A slight pause follows her answer.

He shouldn't be surprised by it. He knows he hasn't been reading the signs wrong, and moreover, he knows he wouldn't be feeling this kind of tension unless it was shared. But it's another thing altogether to have such expressed permission - he wouldn't think to do anything unless there was. Alek wants her to want it the way he does, or he wouldn't push.

"Yeah. Yeah, I do."

Alek takes a step forward, his gaze scanning her face. Something in his expression softens uncharacteristically, a hand lifting up to cradle the side of her face. His thumb traces her bottom lip first, as though committing it to memory, and when his eyes lock on hers again, the question has faded. He leans in until his mouth is fastening over hers.

Her eyes never leave him as he moves closer, almost as though she's trying to anticipate the hit before it comes. But this isn't a blow that she can try and block. This is something she wants, but it still feels like she's waiting for the punch. There's something vulnerable about what he's doing, even though she asked for it. Her eyes don't close until his mouth is over hers, because by then she's already jumped.

If he doesn't catch her, the only thing she can do is fall.

The kiss doesn't need long to work. Her legs give way and she stumble steps into him which breaks the kiss as she braces herself against his shoulders. She takes the moment to find her balance, feeling the sturdiness of him under her hands and hearing the steady thrum of his heartbeat and before she can think better of it, she moves her hands to the side of his neck, pushing up on her toes and pulling him in to kiss him again. A real kiss this time, just to reinforce the fact that she didn't just want him to kiss her because she was stuck.

She wanted him to kiss her because it was him.

And catch her he does.

Alek winds his arm around Cora's waist, tugging her up to his chest swiftly in response. Her mouth is soft and warm against his, and Alek all but melts into the kiss, brief though it may be. He isn't expecting her to pull him in for another kiss, but he's hardly going to complain - in fact, he might've been gearing up to do something similar, now that the dam has burst and the flood as rushed in.

His arms tighten around her, his mouth opening under hers to deepen the kiss. The intensity is unmistakable, but so is the softness.

The mistletoe is long gone, but there's still them, and he still wants this. Has wanted it for longer than he's realized.

Cora's arms wind around his neck as she pulls herself closer, pushing up on her toes to make up for some of the height difference between them. She's never been the kind of girl to go for heels or any of that, but right now they might have been a little useful. She's never been the kind of girl for any of this, really, a "boyfriend" an indulgence for girls who weren't struggling to keep themselves alive. Never mind the fact that she never trusted anyone enough to get that close.

But she trusts Alek.

(She doesn't even know what any of this means. She doesn't really know how relationships work. But she really, really likes kissing him, whatever that is worth.)

It's a terrifying and exhilarating feeling all at the same time, but she gives it freely, to him if no one else. She's willing to kiss him until she's breathless, or until she steps wrong and loses her balance, whichever comes first.

Alek will gladly solve the problem of their height difference by lifting her up and off the ground slightly, now that the mistletoe isn't keeping her in place. He is as unaware of how relationships work as Cora is, but that's okay. He trusts how this feels, and he trusts her. He can't say that about a lot of people, or he wouldn't have let himself fall so hard, so fast.

He's mindful of her cues, what she invites more of and what she isn't comfortable with.

His palm splays at her side, feeling the way her ribcage expands and contracts with each and every breath she takes. He's reluctant to pull back, only doing so when both of their lungs are demanding it. A faint, rare smile curves on her lips once his eyes open in search of her own.

"Hey," he says breathlessly.

She takes a moment to get used to it, the feel of him being this close and the way it soothes something she's been aching for for a long time. She trusts him far more than she trusts anyone, with the exception of Derek, and taking that next step, bringing further closeness between them is something that's itched at her since they started growing closer.

She looks up at him when he pulls back, matching his smile with one of her own as she nods. "Hi."

Alek bites his lip, and in the process bites back that smile threatening to widen.

There isn't a handbook to this kind of stuff. He doesn't immediately know how to proceed or what the smoothest thing to say would be, but maybe he doesn't need to. With Cora, he's followed his instincts and his instincts haven't steered him wrong yet. "I've ... been meaning to do that for a while," he admits.

Her smile widens a bit as her head ducks, fingers playing a bit with his shirt. This feels good, and she's going to run with it, make it hers for as long as she can. "I'm glad you did." It sounds lame after she says it, but it doesn't mean that she means it any less. She's really glad he did.

She feels light, and almost giddy, and so unlike herself that she doesn't know what to do. Which is funny, considering that she doesn't think there's anything wrong with it, she's just a little at a loss for what to do now, beyond ...

"Wanna do it again?"

A rare laugh, genuine and spontaneous, bubbles up his throat at the question.

Alek does not need to be told twice. His hand cups the side of her face again, eyes softening as he watches her face. She's beautiful, and he wants her. Without a second thought, he's bridging the distance between them again, his mouth once again claiming hers. Longer, this time. More thorough in its exploration.

Kissing, though she is still fairly new at it, is much, much easier than talking. She's always been better with actions rather than words - it's a Hale family trait - and sinking into the kiss is easy, simple. It makes her feel light and floaty while grounding her at the same time, and she's happy to follow his lead. Her instincts pull her closer, letting one hand rest against his chest while the other moves to the back of his neck, fingers brushing gently against the skin there.

Alek may not be new to kissing, but he's new to having genuine feelings for the person that he is kissing. It's not that he was callous before, but it was strictly physical. He's a teenager and a werewolf; things happen. It's different with Cora, though. In a way he didn't anticipate. He's all too happy to lead on this one, his hand settling on the curve of her hip as he pulls her closer, mouth parting further to deepen the kiss. She'll feel the strength of his heart beating underneath her palm, skipping a beat or two in the process.

He leads and she follows, taking that small step to move in closer, her fingers curling in his shirt as she feels the slight race of his heart. It's a bit of a thrill, knowing that that excitement is for her, and as much as she wants to keep doing it forever, there's a part of her that's still aware that they're standing in the middle of the deck and anyone can come upon them at any time.

Including her brother.

She eventually pulls back - regretfully - before looking up at him again. "Maybe we should take this somewhere else?" Where they can keep making out like the dumb teenagers they are but not for all the world to see?

And any of his brothers, though that would be infinitely less violent.

Alek blinks through his daze once Cora pulls back, and the dawning realization they are somewhere very public doesn't come until later. No one can blame the guy for being distracted here. "Right." He clears his throat, something almost boyish and sheepish taking over his expression. "You got somewhere in mind?"

There's his cabin, but he wants to give Cora the chance to decide first, so wherever they are - she's comfortable.

She'd suggest hers, but it's right next to Derek's, and there's her dog, which would probably interrupt things and just generally be a distraction, and she doesn't actually want one of those. If not for those two factors, her room would probably be an excellent choice, but alas. It's also not as though she's never been to his room before, and she trusts him. While she's not looking to go too far too fast, she doesn't think that will be something he's pushing for.

"Probably not a good idea to go to mine." Even if she's comfortable going there, she doesn't feel comfortable blatantly suggesting it. It feels awkward and she doesn't want to force herself into his space.

Cora could never force herself into his space, for the record.

His hand lingers at her hipbone, while his gaze is drawn constantly right back to her mouth. His throat goes dry and he swallows, lifting his eyes so that they lock back on hers. "There's mine," he offers tentatively. For all of his brash and bravado-filled ways, there's a part of him that's still an uncertain boy who doesn't always know he's wanted.

(Also, he doesn't have a pet. Score.)

(Yep. Win-win-win.)

She smiles at that, before nodding. So long as he wants her there, there's no place else she'd rather be, and with her, at least, he is certainly wanted. "Yours sounds good." And she means that genuinely. In fact, they should get there right now.

Alek doesn't need to be told twice.

He reaches out to grab her hand, locking their fingers together, and quickens his pace as he takes her to his cabin for more kissing.

A lot of kissing.

Jessica never got to have much fun with Christmas. Her parents were extremely religious so holidays like Christmas were taken very seriously. Not that they didn't have a tree and presents but more fun traditions like mistletoe were never anything she's been able to enjoy before.

So she doesn't mind when she finds it all over the place on the ship -- could be fun, right? Okay, so maybe she'll change her mind if she gets stuck under one of them but for now?

She's not complaining.

Jessica may not be complaining, but Charlotte is. Mentally. If she could get the Twitter app on her phone to open, she'd be complaining there, too. But none of her social media apps will load and that leaves her playing Candy Crush until she spots the other redhead.

"Hey!" She nearly drops her phone as she jumps up and waves the thing in the air. "Over here."

The call out surprises Jessica but soon enough she's making her way over to the other girl who seems to be trapped where she is.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm stuck. See?"

She tries to lift her feet, but they won't budge! It's like she's trying to jump up, but she's tethered to the ground by an invisible chord.

"So what -- if I come under there and kiss you you think it'll stop?"

Jessica's never kissed another girl before but if it's to help someone she doesn't have any objections to trying.

Charlotte hasn't exactly either, but she would rather kiss someone — anyone, anything — than find herself unable to speak or even flinch. She's seen some of the people who've got stuck under this thing for far longer than she does, and she likes having motor functions. Being unable to move her legs sucks as it is.

"It should. I saw someone do that on the far side of the deck," she tries to twist around to point in that direction, but her hips are having none of that, "and it worked for them. Worth a shot, right? Unless you're not swinging in my general direction or okay with the drive-by. That's cool; but in that case, could you find someone who is? TMI, but I really have to pee."

"No, it should be fine. I mean, I ain't ever kissed another girl before but it shouldn't be a problem."

Ugh. Peeing. There is something she does not miss about being human. Bodily functions can be so gross.

She tries to push that out of her mind before she steps into the zone the other girl is stuck in. There's a first time for everything. She briefly wishes Pam was here -- if anyone could give her tips on kissing another girl it would be her.

But she decided to just go for it, not wasting anymore time before pressing her lips against the other girls.

If someone sold vampirism to her by way of not having to do the potty dance in order to convince her Spanish teacher to let her go to the bathroom, or suffer through everything that comes with the joys of being a girl every month, she might just offer her neck to the first vampire that wants to take a bite out of her. No period, no bathroom breaks? Doesn't sound like the horror story being a vampire's made out to be.

Charlotte would've raised up on her toes to meet Jessica halfway, but she's still firmly rooted to the ground. Short as she is, she has to crane her neck as far as it'll go without threatening to break free of her spine in order to kiss the other girl back. The kiss isn't bad, and it's not the first time Charlotte's kissed another girl, but it's hard to focus on how good a kiss is when you're about to pee your pants.

Being human sucks.

...so does being a Slayer, as something about being this close to this girl — touching her — has her fight or flight instincts flashing like a broken traffic light in her head.

Stop? Go? Fight? No. No fighting. Even if the urge to deck this girl is strong.

Instead, Charlotte channels that sudden burst of adrenaline into lurching back so powerfully she slams into the railing behind her when she breaks free of the mistletoe's spell. When she pushes off it, there's a good dent in what should be steel that takes more than a tiny teenager to bend out of shape.

"Thanks. I—" She glances over her shoulder and grimaces. "Oh. Whoops. I should really stop slamming into things."

At least it wasn't a tuba player this time.

It's a little awkward, but not bad. Jessica tries not to think about her parents, about the comments they would make about how God hates homosexuals and all that. God hates fangs too after all. She's already damned.

It doesn't occur to her that this other girl might be different too until she's pushing out of the kiss -- and causing a dent in that steel. That's new. But she had been too warm for a vampire. Not that that didn't leave plenty of other options.

"What are you?"

It's blunt. Not rude so much as curious, maybe even a little intrigued.

party post | hang the mistletoe and stand by me~ ♫

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ota for mocking, closed for kissing (sorry!)

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!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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OTA

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