( rp ) look at this heart-shaped wreckage. what have we done?

[believable]

[ see elena.

see elena heading toward one of the bars on whichever deck you see fit.

see elena serving herself a drink because boys men suck and she has had it with this ship.



enjoy. ]

Comments

[believable]

[ elena could never regret it. the hales - not to be confused with your family, derek - took her in and became a wonderful support system when she'd lost pretty much everything. they made her a part of their pack without her ever having to do anything for it, and they've protected and cared for her the way family would and does. (isobel gave birth to her; she has the petrova blood. but in all the ways that count, miranda sommers-gilbert was her mom. in all the ways that count, jeremy is her brother.)

she sighs in commiseration, and she thinks it was smart of the ghost to sashay away. this guy doesn't exactly look like someone you want to mess with. ]

A ghost. Or so they like to say. [ she doesn't exactly trust the first explanation that's given to her, but what else is there? ] Once you've been here a while, you almost get used to them.

[ she knows it isn't comforting. ]

[chaney]

[ derek is going to have a lot of feelings about that pack being a pack of hales. some of them good, some of them not. lots of grumpy cat faces. ]

Ghosts? There are no such things as ghosts.

[ you're a werewolf, your uncle came back from the dead, and your ex-girlfriend was a mass murdering dark druid. ghosts ought to be higher up in the realm of plausibility. ]

Somehow I think that's less getting used to them and more tolerating. There's a difference.

[ he tolerates peter. he hasn't gotten used to him being around again and never will. ]

[believable]

[ elena can't help the smile that tugs at the corners of her mouth as she gives him a slight look, eyebrows raised slightly. ]

I was once a non-believer, too.

[ in a lot of ways. people grew old and they died. the thought of vampires, werewolves, witches - it seemed way too far-fetched for her. if she couldn't explain it away logically, elena didn't believe it. the mystical was for stories. three and a half years later... ]

... Point. [ it's definitely more on the side of tolerance. ] At least they seem harmless. As far as I can tell, anyway.

[chaney]

[ he knocks on the bar. it probably isn't real wood and he doesn't have much any faith in superstitions that don't contain grains of truth, but the show of doing so gives is almost impulsive. less an appearing human habit so much as a human habit unto itself. he isn't just a wolf. none of them are. the ones who forget that are the ones who should be feared. ]

It's usually when someone says something seems harmless that they become the opposite. I get jumped by one of those things, I'm blaming you.

[believable]

Hey! [ a surprised, short puff of laughter escapes her. then again, he has a point. appearances can be deceiving, and elena has been mistrusting of this ship from day one. isn't she the one ready and willing to explore every inch of it to find something that may control the red door that brings them here to begin with? ]

I can take a ghost or two if it comes down to it. [ she once outwitted a community of ewoks ok she's had practice. ]

[chaney]

[ oh god, another "i'm gonna do the thing" teenager. because derek needs more of those in his life. ]

Can you? What about the part where they're already dead? Or intangible? You might just take your own self down in the process.

[believable]

[ she is twenty going on twenty-one, thank you very much. so it's more just a "i'm gonna do the thing" person. which elena always does. whoops. ]

... I was kidding. [ though she thinks there has to be a way to outsmart them. ]

[chaney]

[ his eyebrows shoot up because — oh. kidding. right. he knew that. (no, he didn't.) ]

If you were kidding, then who are you now?

[believable]

[ oh god, another brooder. totally what she needs more of in her life too, right? ]

I'm Elena. And I'm guessing it wasn't that long ago you stepped through that red door like I did a month ago.

[chaney]

[ hey. hey. he doesn't brood. he sulks. angrily. and sometimes breaks things. ]

Derek, and I've only been here for a few days. Drop your sister off at the airport, get a free cruise.

[believable]

A cruise that doesn't seem to be leading us anywhere. It's charming, I know. [ can you hear the wryness in her tone? it's dripping. but her expression shifts into one of concern. it's that ~caring~ face he's likely come to find all too familiar on a certain alpha-to-be. ] I know it's a lot, and most of it doesn't make sense, but I can try to explain it the best I can if you have any questions. I can't promise I have all the answers, but I can try.

[chaney]

[ the most charming. stiles charming. (not that charming at all.) ]

Alright. [ he takes a seat, folds his arms together on the bar. ] Ever been to Beacon Hills?

[ something happened with the nemeton. scott, stiles, and allison gave it power again when they sought out their parents. just like he unintentionally did when he mercy killed paige there. all those sacrifices, the risk those kids took — the beacon was alive again. maybe this was something it drew in.

except he was in los angeles, in the middle of LAX, not in beacon hills. did it follow him? he wouldn't be surprised, in all honesty. ]

[believable]

[ a small frown creases her forehead. ]

Can't ... say I've ever heard of it. [ she isn't the buff alaric is at this kind of stuff, but it's likely it would be a place she'd know if they came from the same world.

oh, how to explain that one. ] Where is it located?

[chaney]

It's in Northern California.

[ just when derek thought his world was calming down. he's in a different one and mingling with people from others. ]

[believable]

Maybe your Northern California.

[ elena pulls in a small breath, preparing herself just in case derek looks at her like she may need to be in a straitjacket. ] Have you ever heard of Einsten-Rosen bridge? It's also called a wormhole.

[chaney]

My—

[ good thing he lives in a section of his world where he, by all the standards of modern society and all that is considered right with the world, ought to be a straitjacket, too. one stuffed with wolf's bane and mountain ash. ]

Yeah, I saw Thor.

[believable]

[ it's a very good thing. also a very good thing? elena comes from a similar world, and she wouldn't bat an eyelash at the thought of werewolves anymore. though maybe kanimas. what's up with kanimas? ]

It's something like that. [ she's seen thor too, if only because jeremy was a huge fan. ] The world I was in called them rifts, but it's basically works the same way - there are holes in the universe, and sometimes we fall through them and end up somewhere else. So in my world, there was a California, but no Beacon Hills. Just like you've probably never heard of Mystic Falls, Virginia?

[chaney]

[ less what's up with kanimas so much as wtf is up with jackson?? good thing he's now an american werewolf in london. ]

Holes in the universe. [ to anyone else, that would sound like crazy talk. but this is derek and he's from beacon hills. he knows better than to dismiss the weird and wacky, for all to often, the weird and wacky is actually reality. like jackson turning into a giant, poisonous lizard. or his semi-girlfriend being the darach sacrificing half the town to the nemeton. ] Great. That's... great. That's a thing we need on top of— other things.

[ he shakes his head. ] Can't say I've been close enough to the East Coast to hear of it.

[believable]

I'm sorry.

[ she means it genuinely. it doesn't fall from her lips like a pleasantry, like something she says because she's supposed to say it. she is sorry, especially as it seems like he already had a lot on his plate. it's the last thing so many of them need, but it can be jarring when it happens for the first time. she knows this, too. ]

There's no way of knowing when it sends us back, but once it does - it's like time stopped back home. We're taken back to the last thing we remember, and no one knew we were gone. [ she doesn't know if this will be a comfort to him or not, but it's the truth, and he should be armed with it. ]

[chaney]

You do realize this sounds like one of those really bad Choose Your Own Adventure novels from elementary school, right?

[ if you want to stay on the ship to nowhere, turn to page 23. if you've had enough and want to go home, turn to page 57. ]

Or X-Files fan fiction.

[believable]

I've never read X-Files fanfiction, but I will have to take your word for it.

[ and well, x-files in general fits the bill. it's crazy and out there, except it's true, or they wouldn't be standing here. she could pinch him and this would all be a dream.

... don't pinch derek hale, elena. ] But yes, I do realize how it sounds. I just promise it's also the truth.

quietly switches to prose now that i'm more comfortable in his shoes

[chaney]

"I believe you."

It's said a little too readily, an easy acceptance of the truth she has to offer. Derek's inherently someone who doesn't trust, but belief and trust aren't exactly two sides of the same coin. He can believe in something without trusting it, and he isn't about to trust this situation — or this seemingly friendly girl. Not yet, anyway.

you saw nothing!!!!

[believable]

See, and Elena would agree there. Trust isn't something you just hand over; trust is something you earn, and it's a two-way street. She won't be trusting him magically for the sake of it. It's something that builds - or doesn't - overtime.

"We're not the only ones here. Every now and then someone else steps through that Red Door, and in the meantime, there's cabins to stay in and stores to get everything you can think of." Clothes, food. It's not that Elena trusts it, but after a while, out of necessity you start to take the risks.

>.>

[chaney]

"Of course we're not. What's a good mystical shift in worlds without some unfamiliar and possibly unwanted faces coming through that door, as well?"

He ought to sound bitter and discouraged, but he doesn't. These things are a fact of reality for Derek, with or without this ship. He was raised on tales of this stuff, spent his youth learning how to be a werewolf while simultaneously functioning in human society proper and doing normal kid things like joining the basketball team and sleeping over at a friend's house. He never expected to see all that he's seen this past year, but there's no going back from it. The world's a hell of a lot bigger place and even someone of his upbringing thought it was, and he'd be a fool to dismiss the possibilities of this place.

And he is done being the joker in the Beacon Hills deck.

[believable]

Elena has thought of that, as well.

The same door that allowed her to see Caroline and Bonnie again is the same door that could bring Klaus in. Just because she's gotten used to his absence doesn't mean she takes for granted the fact it doesn't necessarily mean it's permanent. Rifts, ghost cruise ships, portals in general - they make anything possible. She swallows at his comment, her gaze dropping as she genuinely contemplates it; forces away the dread that threatens to sink into her stomach.

"It does seem to enjoy making things as difficult as possible."

Sometimes, people in Chicago would joke the rifts had to be sentient. Some things were too cruel and terribly timed to be mere coincidences.