voyagers | [party post] come sail away with me

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[party post] come sail away with me

You've come through a door, and you are on a boat. Specifically, you're on a cruise ship in the middle of some giant body of water. You've come through the door behind you which is attached to nothing and may now be locked. It's relatively empty as giant as it appears to be. The only other passengers that are here appear to also have come through the door for the most part and it is not nearly enough to fill up this entire cruise ship.

Also, who knows who the hell is driving this thing since all of the employees appear to be either ghosts or holograms...

Is this your first time here or your hundredth time here? Do you want a drink or a dip in the pool? Is it day or night? Do you stumble on your room or some other situation either fun or painful within its many rooms, shops, and facilities? Do you run into someone you know or a complete stranger?

The possibilities are unlimited!

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Elena bites her lip, because she would be lying if she said she wasn't wondering that, too. She doesn't know the full spectrum of similarities and differences in both of their worlds, and what moments could've possibly altered the outcomes they both had. In Ethan's world, the two of them clearly... didn't end up together, and there was the literal end of the world. In Elena's world, they did end up together, and no such apocalypse has occurred -- though now she will be highly paranoid about it. If she even remembers what they have discussed once she is sent back through the door. There are a lot of what ifs here, and she doesn't know that she has any satisfying answers.

She purses her lips together again and kicks his stool from underneath the table, though there's a laugh in spite of herself. Elena takes another shot, and she is now effectively feeling it. It's not as though she can handle a whole lot of liquor. "It was incredible sex," she agrees with him, because it was. "You were incredible," she adds softly, smiling at him from her spot before she kicks at his stool again. You are so incorrigible sometimes, Ethan.

Though that happens to be one of the things she loves about him so, y'know. Acceptable. "You would really find it acceptable if I had used you only for your body?" Elena asks with amusement, propping her elbows against the table and leaning forward before she shakes her head. "I wouldn't be with someone I wasn't in love with. It's love, Ethan."

Another beat. "And great sex." That may just be the alcohol talking. Or is it~?

There is no answering those what ifs. No way for them to know the many different factors that could have resulted in the differences so it is best to answer it with drinking. He really, really likes that way of answering it personally, because there aren't any answers anyway so sometimes it just helps to numb the asking. He doesn't know why things turned out the way they did for him and for his Elena, but he can't help but feel some joy that there is a version of them that do end up together, that maybe won't have to say goodbye forever.

Ethan laughs when she kicks his stool, and his elbows rest against the top of the bar as he looks over at her with a smile that widens when she agrees with him. "I am certain you were incredible yourself," he says softly. "It takes two." To have sex. But then he is laughing when she kicks at his stool again, and he taps her foot with his own. He is very, very incorrigible. It's true.

May he never change when it comes to that (though he will change in many, many ways after he heads through that door, but that's for later, not right now). "I am easy that way, and I assume there was no time for me to confess my feelings for you in the middle of all that sex having. Then when I did after and if you didn't feel the same, the sex would be too amazing to resist," he says with that mischievous, charming smile, but he nods softly at her answer. "I'm really happy there's a version of us that's... that gets to be together."

Then he laughs again, toasting her drink with his own. "I will drink to that, to great sex and love. I'm happy for you... and me. Other me. This is... odd."

"You seemed pretty pleased," Elena says with a little nod, as it most definitely takes two. Her cheeks are slightly flushed, and she can't tell if it's due to the fact she is feeling generously tipsy or of it is the fact they are talking about their having had sex, and therefore she is naturally remembering that night in all of its facets. The likeliest of answers is that it is a potent combination of the two, naturally. Her smile widens at his laughter, and she taps his foot back, because this Elena, at least, is used to engaging in those sorts of flirtations with him. They're normal and part of her everyday life, and she loves who they are.

The thought of things going so terribly wrong means there's a heaviness in her heart, but that's for later, too. It is not for right now.

Right now, there is a very incorrigible Ethan asking her all kinds of questions. "No, there was no time for talking until after we slept together. Then you made me breakfast," she adds with a slight headtilt, smiling a bit fondly in memory. It really was one of the best weekends of her life. Her smile grows warm at him. "We do. And we're happy, Ethan," she tells him very honestly. Life isn't perfect, it never is in Chicago, but the two of them? They're happy.

Another laugh escapes from her lips, and she lifts her glass to clink with his. "It is weird. I don't know what I'm supposed to call you and him when I'm talking about both of you in the same sentence." They're both Ethan, after all.

"I am absolutely certain I was very pleased and satisfied," Ethan says as he smiles sideways at her when she gives that little nod. He loves the way her cheeks are slightly flushed, and it aches through the center of his chest as he smiles at her. Ethan can tell from her face alone that it was incredible sex that they had together, and he smiles, ducking his head and shaking it slightly in amazement at her tapping his foot back with her own. The ache spreads further through his heart as he looks at her, but there's joy in it too. There's something really good in this moment despite the underlying ache of-- of not ever having had this.

It's not for right now. Right now, there's drinking and smiles and talks about their sex life.

Ethan smirks wider when she says that there was no time for talking until after, because he thought that might be the case. "After all that sexing, you deserved to have breakfast made for you. What did I make?" Yes, he is still asking all the questions, and the expression on her face makes him so happy. He smiles back at her, wider when she says that they're happy. They're together, and they're happy. He lets out a soft laugh of amazement.

He breathes in deeply, shaking his head slightly. "I guess you could call him Ethan A and me Ethan B, but then I'd be offended that I was the B even if it makes sense because you met the other me first. It's a very complicated thing," Ethan says, taking another drink from his glass with a soft, warm smile at the thought.

Elena shakes her head still, because incorrigible Ethan is incorrigible, but she has never been unaffected by it. Her lips press together as though that will keep her from smiling, but it is a futile attempt. It is softened by the amazement that she reads in his features, and she can't help but wonder how different their worlds were in that respect, and if the Elena he had in his world truly had no feelings for him, something she finds so difficult -- if not impossible -- to wrap her head around. Because it's -- it's Ethan and it's Elena, and feelings are sort of impossible to not have when you put those two combinations together.

"Instead of telling you, I could show you," Elena offers, as she remembers this in her sort of drunken state of being. She sways a bit in place in her stool as she fumbles to find her phone in the pockets of her jacket. Thankfully, she still has enough battery, but the process of both finding her phone and finding the video she is attempting to show him is a comical error in hand coordination and all-around balance. Once it is playing however, she flips her phone around so that he can see the video of them the very morning after.

Omelet, Ethan. You made her an omelet.

Elena laughs and shakes her head. It is punctuated by the stubborn shaking of her finger, which she shakes directly in front of him as if the point she is wanting to make is very important here. "There is no A and B. You're ... ghost!cruise!ship!Ethan! Hmmm, I guess that may be too long. We'll get back to it. And other-you is ... homeworld!Ethan. Or omelet!Ethan."

Ooh, she thinks she likes omelet!Ethan.

Edited 2014-02-24 10:10 (UTC)

Ethan narrows his gaze, pointing at her lips as they press together as if he knows she is trying to keep herself from smiling. He is a tiny bit tipsy at the moment too thus the silly response to something he is so used to seeing from her. He is amazed, and he doesn't know-- he will never know if she did or she didn't have feelings for him, if he was too much of an idiot and too lost in his own issues to see it if she did have them. It took him so long to realize his own feelings. Maybe he really is just that much of an idiot.

"You can--" He turns to her, reaching his hand out immediately when she sways so she won't slip or fall. Ethan keeps his hand on her, and he watches her with fondness at the way she fumbles about. It's both comical and hilarious honestly (also adorable, did he mention that?). He leans in when she flips her phone around, and then he is smiling and shaking his head in amazement and it's real. It's really in front of them, and they're kind of a really beautiful couple. His voice is a bit hoarse when he finally manages to speak at all, just at the-- it's so natural and so right and so amazing. "We look-- We look really happy, really good together."

It's said softly as he shakes his head in amazement, watching the whole video, laughing at parts of it too. The sight of it hits him with this intense warmth, this intense ache and warmth. His eyes burn too just briefly as he watches it in amazement and wonderment, and he has to look away at the end because the burning spreads through the center of his chest too strong that he can't--

This isn't him-- It is but it's not. It's what could have been. It's a what if that happens in another world that isn't his own. He is smiling though even with that burn that spreads across his chest, the burn in his eyes too. It is a joyful thing to know that somewhere they end up like this and not-- not saying goodbye forever. His jaw locks with it. And. Feelings.

It takes him another moment to recover and more alcohol too. More of that before the ache and the burn finally fades a bit.

He grins at her as she shakes her finger in that stubborn way. "Oh, I really, really love those two different ways of departing us though ghost cruise ship Ethan is a bit long. Maybe you could just shorten it to the first letter or something like that," Ethan says, finishing off the glass in his hand as he ducks his head, laughing.

It's okay, Ethan. Elena Gilbert is something of a big idiot herself.

Ethan may be leaning in to watch the clip on the phone, but Elena in turn is watching him. The nuances in his reactions and the range of emotions within them. Amazement and amusement and then -- something else, something that makes her chest clench with it, until she almost wonders if it wasn't too cruel to show him. When he looks away, Elena quietly slips the phone back into her pocket. She doesn't say anything at first, simply stares down at the drinks in front of them. She reaches for the bottle and fills them up again, and she wonders just how exactly she plans on walking toward the door when she is imbibing copious amounts of alcohol.

"We are," she says in that soft voice that doesn't quite leave her.

They're happy and they're good together.

And it isn't him, no. But it doesn't mean he won't experience joy. He will. Not immediately, maybe. Once the door sends him back to where he was supposed to go, life will be very hard. He will be tested in ways he has never been tested before, but then life will be very beautiful again. He'll find a light of his own. He'll smile and laugh and be happy in a way his own Elena has never seen him before, and it will make her very happy for him. (And there is a part that will hurt at it, in ways she will not examine, much less acknowledge.) There are many beautiful stories for him to have, and this is just one of many, and she is glad that it is hers.

Elena swallows, blinking past the own burning in her eyes, and she shares another drink with him before she sets it back down. "So... S!Ethan and O!Ethan? S and O? It's kind of like you're in a Bond movie," Elena says with a slightly drunken grin, before she taps her fingers lightly against the table. "So. S!Ethan. What else is there to do on this ship aside from drinking?" she asks in a demandingly curious tone. Elena, you should not even be thinking of that rn.

There are so many reactions to this video. It is something he couldn't even imagine. By the time he realized how much he would want something like this with her, he'd all but convinced himself she didn't feel the same and then his life exploded, both of their lives exploded. It is amazing to him that they could end up like this in one version of their world while they said goodbye forever in his own, and it-- There was no making sense of it. It was always going to feel wrong and horrible walking away from her. Impossible, painful decisions that linger on, and he doesn't have any idea of what awaits him, the terribleness or the eventual joy down the line too, the light that he will discover after endless darkness.

He won't know his own conflicted feelings being so happy for her (but still being twisted up in his chest in ways that he-- that he already knows even if he'll still never say them, because the past is in the past and she is happy in ways he has never seen her before, smiling, laughing, wanting). There are many beautiful stories for them both to have, and he will be very happy for the story he has when he gets to that part after the darkness with the light and the happiness, the one that also brings him back to her too even if things are different too. Like O!Ethan is very glad that his story is his own too, and Ethan is-- he is glad that there is a story that goes like this for them even if it isn't his and even if that makes his chest ache too.

He smiles at her as they share another drink and they fight away the burn, laughing at what she says. "We've even got the accents to go with so it's even more appropriate. Ethan. S. Ethan." He says that in his best James Bond voice, which is admittedly pretty good. Ethan looks over at her with a tiny smirk at that curious tone-- demandingly curious tone. "...are you sure you can walk let alone do things on this ship right now? Not that I won't tell you what all there is to do. There's a lot, and I haven't fully explored yet. Don't think it's possible."

... Elena is kind of seriously attracted to him and his James Bond voice.

She props her chin on her hands to look over at him from across the table with a tiny smirk on her face, lifting her eyebrows up. "I have always liked the accent," she admits. There are many things she finds attractive about him, but the accent is really up there along with several other things. Which is likely obvious at the moment because, well, she personally has no reason to deny it, and also, she is getting very drunk. "Wait, does that make me the Bond girl in this instance?"

Just to be on the same page here. And it'd have to be a badass Bond girl.

Elena is already sliding out of her stool, looking over at him as though she is kind of indignant. "Are you questioning my capabilities?" she says, in that sort of demand-y tone still. She can do anything she sets her mind to! She is an empowered woman. HEAR HER ROAR. etc.

Ethan looks over at her, laughing softly, fondly at the way that she props her chin on her hands like that. "Have you? It is one of my more attractive qualities," he says, taking a long drink from the glass as he smirks softly in amusement. He can tell by the way that she looks at him that she finds it attractive, which is always good to know. He wonders too if that is a difference or if tiis the same. Drunk!Elena is absolutely adorable, and he is more tipsy than drunk so he can seriously enjoy this. "Yes, that would make you the Bond girl in this instance. The most badass Bond girl that there ever was."

They're totally on the same page, and he'd think of nothing but badass Bond girl for the likes of Elena Gilbert.

Ethan lifts up his eyebrows, sliding out of his stool beside her and trying to look innocent as he shrugs. "No, I would never. I'm only concerned about your... safety at the moment that's all," he says though there's a tiny fond smirk at her demand-y tone. It is a beautiful tone. He remembers her using it on him... many, many times before. Ethan clears his throat a bit, still trying for the innocent look. >>

Spoiler: it is the same.

Elena, in her current condition, seems inordinately pleased to be the badass. Of course, she doesn't have an accent, which makes her sad at the moment, but but maybe the fact Ethan has an accent means she has one by osmosis. Is that even how osmosis works? Accent by osmosis? It sounds completely feasible to her, but that may just be (once again) the copious amount of alcohol talking.

"My safety is in good hands," she reminds him, before she smiles all temptingly and winsomely at him, linking her arm around his. She will forgive the fact she does not believe that innocent look for a second if you acquiesce, Ethan. "Come on. You could at least show me around? The parts you do know."

Ethan would really love to hear that potential accent, Elena Gilbert. Maybe it does exist through osmosis! She should try it out! See what happens. Ahem. It is completely feasible and not at all the alcohol talking, and the narration is not just saying this to be amused by Elena's attempt at an accent. Nope.

"I try to be very good hands when it comes to your safety, Elena," he says with a smile of his own, lifting his eyebrows in amusement as she links her arm around his. Ethan never expects anyone who knows him as well as Elena does to believe that innocent look of his even as he still tries it because he's Ethan. "I can definitely show you around. Keep in mind, I am fairly certain parts of it change and are added or taken away, but I will show you what I know to be true this trip."

He tugs her along with him, leading her beside the pool and to the inner parts of the ship. "You'll notice, Firstly, there are bars everywhere."

Elena follows Ethan once he leads away from the pool, taking in her surroundings as she goes. "I'm starting to," Elena says wryly, glancing over to the next bar they approach, and it isn't that far away from the one by the pool. It's either a generous move from the ship's part, or something far more sinister, and Elena is not quick to discount either of these possibilities.

Still, though. The view is beautiful.

She lets out a breath as they reach the railing, her fingers curling over the surface of it as she looks up at the sky. The stars are very visible, almost as though they're hanging lower than they usually do.

"What exactly changes about it?"

Ethan laughs when they approach another bar. "I love it when the natural environment proves my point," he says, tapping the top of the bar as they pass by it. He looks over at her with that wide, amused smile on his face, looking at her before he looks out at the rest of the view.

It is a beautiful place. There's that at least.

His hand slips over hers on the railing before he takes in a deep breath, shaking his head slightly since he's-- He is not her Ethan, and he doesn't-- Ethan is in love with her like the other Ethan is, like he thinks every Ethan that meets an Elena must be. Must fall in love with her. How could he not?

It's who she is, who they are together. "Little things mostly," Ethan says. "Shops will move or there will be new shops that weren't there before. Of course, none of the shops cost actual money at all, but there are things to do in them or get. You can also find different things about the environment that will change like-- Look..."

He points to the water, keeping an arm around her waist just so... she doesn't slip or anything. The dolphins that he'd noticed earlier (the ones that glow neon) are swimming in the water alongside the boat. He didn't know that dolphins could swim so fast, doesn't know what it means or how they are here, but it is beautiful too.

Technically, he isn't 'her' Ethan, no.

They don't come from the same world and they don't have the exact same set of experiences. But this still feels like something that is hers, and he still feels like Ethan, period. And that is enough for her, though she doesn't immediately expect it to be the same for him. She looks down at their hands, smiling to herself for a bit, before she turns hers over so that she can lock her fingers with his. "I'd say that sounds really weird if I didn't come from Chicago," she tells him with the fond upturning of her lips.

Things just appearing where they weren't there before, though his mention of the environment has her expression shifting curiously, and she turns to where he is pointing toward. She laughs in disbelief at the sight of the dolphins, leaning forward just a fraction, but holding on to him as well. "They're beautiful," Elena says to him softly, just staring at them for several moments.

Then she turns sideways to look at him in the space in between their faces, a tiny smile remaining on hers. "Did ... we ever go to an aquarium in your world?" she asks. This is kind of reminding her of that day.

Ethan had appointed himself as the person that would show her Chicago as it was meant to be known, taking her frequently to places she had never been before. It was always a new experience.

It feels the same way to him too like something that is his, and she still feels like Elena, period. He is still grappling with the fact that she is in love with him and that she's had sex with him-- a version of him, and it's-- Ethan still finds that absolutely amazing, but at the core they are still each other. They are still him so it doesn't feel strange at all. Ethan laughs a bit at what she says as she locks her fingers with his, and he tightens his hold on her hand. "I know what you mean. I got used to this place fairly quickly. Can completely blame... or I suppose thank Chicago for that," Ethan says with a bit of a smirk.

The sound of her laughter has him smiling, and he turns to look at her as she stares down at the dolphins below. He is still looking at her when he nods in agreement. "Yes..." you are. Very beautiful, and then it takes him a moment to realize he has been staring at her so he clears his throat a bit, glancing back down at the dolphins.

Ethan looks up at her again, and the smile on his face widens into something of a grin at that memory. "Yes, in fact, we did go to an aquarium. We looked at the turtles. I never did get to show you as much of Chicago as I wanted to before... Well."

He shakes his head a bit, making a gesture with both of his hands that is pretty much signifying like an explosion. No more Chicago. "But I should you the aquarium and the pier as well, the night that your brother was going to prom, and you took me out on one of those ships when I really, really needed it." Elena didn't abandon him when he was this restless mess right before the full moon, but she kept him company and didn't seem to mind how off he was all that afternoon.

They are very good memories.

"We can thank Chicago for a lot of things," Elena says softly, a light smirk in place, as well. Mainly because not many people would listen to that sentence and agree with it wholeheartedly. Chicago is a melting pot of chaos and dangers. It pushes you to your limits and it takes things away from you at the drop of a hat. It has also prepared them for situations such as these, and it's also what it made it possible for Elena to meet him. Without the rifts and without Chicago, such a thing wouldn't have been made possible.

She turns to him, as though feeling his gaze on hers, and her smirk shifts into a smile. The hand he isn't holding on to lifts up, knuckles lightly brushing down his cheek before she leans forward to place a soft kiss there. If he wants to look at her, if he wants to hold her hand -- he should. She is not technically 'his' Elena but she believes that one day he will see her again.

Quiet laughter leaves her at the memory, along with his gesture despite what it means. Chicago went boom. She shakes her head and lets out a deep breath, looking back out into the water. "You were the very best tour guide," she says to him in answer, before it is her turn to look over at him. She remembers that day. How restless and helpless Ethan had looked, and how badly she'd wanted to help him.

"You always said I was good at helping you stand still," she says softly. That day, on that cruise, was one of those times, she thinks.

Ethan laughs softly at what she says. Chicago definitely had its own way, and it is strange to know that she will be returning to it while he will be going-- He doesn't actually know where he will be going yet, which is a bit terrifying, but... he tries not to think about that. He tries not to think about a lot that scares him, that he'd prefer to avoid.

He pauses a brief moment, holding his breath as her knuckles run down his cheek in that brief way. He ducks his head slightly and then a smile tugs on his face as he finally reaches his hand over for hers to lock their fingers together. Ethan's smile widens as he looks at her.

Ethan smirks softly at what she says, and he did try after all to be a good tour guide. He didn't get to show her nearly as much as he would have liked, but-- but their world got cut short and their own friendship grew distant... now he wonders if he'd just taken the initiative-- How different things would be for him.

"That's because you are. In a way no one else... ever has been. I don't know if you realize what a big deal that is. I have been terrified-- absolutely terrified of standing still since I was maybe thirteen years old... thirteen, fourteen. Never would, no matter how tired I'd get. It felt like the world would come crashing down if I dared. So to feel safe in standing still is--" Ethan shakes his head lightly. There aren't words for the power that has over him, the power she has over him.

Elena squeezes his hand lightly once he's reached for her hand and locked their fingers together. A quiet sort of smile touches on her lips as she looks at him, listens to what he says. It strikes her, then. Not because he is saying something she hasn't heard before, but because of what he has done for her.

"It's weird," she says after a moment, a small laugh, and the slight ducking of her head. The neon-colored dolphins remain swimming to the surface. Some of them jump up into the air before they dive back into the water. "You've always said I help you stand still when you're ... the person that helped me move forward," she adds, looking back over at him after a moment. Her smile turns bittersweet, but genuine, because this Ethan -- he may not realize what a big deal that is, either.

"And I don't just mean keep going, I've always done that, I've always had to." Without ever letting herself look back, letting herself stay in bed for that one second longer because she knew if she did, she wouldn't get out of it. "I mean moving on, and looking forward, and reminding me what it is to really feel alive."

She's felt so alive with him.

Ethan lingers against her hand as she squeezes it like that. It is impossible to describe what she does to him, the effects that she has on him. His thumb slides over the side of her hand, and he doesn't know if it's wrong because she's-- she's not his Elena, but he is Elena. She is an Elena who has had the things that he wanted so badly but never thought was possible.

He looks over at her when she ducks her head like that, and he breathes in slowly, shaking his head. There's a moment where he just holds his breath, because there's no way he could anticipate it what she says next, no way he can anticipate how it will hit him fully and intensely. He looks down at the water as he swallows thickly with that emotion wrapping up in his chest.

Ethan shakes his head. There aren't words for how much it means to him to know he could help her-- help her with that, help her to do more than live, help her to look forward and to want to move on and move forward, to feel alive. His eyes burn more, and his face crumples a bit.

"That's-- I had no... idea," he says softly and then breathes in sharply as he looks over at her. "I'm so happy I could help you too. I didn't--" He shakes his head again, sliding his hand behind his neck. He didn't know, and it-- it makes him really happy he could have a powerful effect on her life too.

It doesn't feel wrong, at least not to her, so she is going to tentatively go with no. Elena has a hard time believing it wouldn't be the same for any Ethan and Elena that would meet, because of who they are when they are together. She has an even harder time still of wrapping her head around the fact that his own version of things are so different from hers, that the world ended and they were made to say goodbye. It doesn't make sense to her still. She doesn't know that it ever will. Her fingers lock with his, and she studies his reaction with a soft expression on her face. Was his Elena really that bad at expressing it?

Was it really that unapparent?

It makes her chest ache to think so. Elena's lips part, and she pulls in a small breath. "Maybe she just ... always thought it was obvious," she says, a frown softly creasing her forehead. "But I know it's true for her, too. It's who you are."

It's who she is.

Ethan doesn't know that it makes sense to him, and he lived it. He doesn't know how he did it, can barely remember those final moments without being ripped apart so he never tries to think about it too deeply. He breathes in as his fingers lock with her own, and then breathes out in a sharp breath that rattles in his chest. It's something he is wondering about now if he'd somehow missed it simply by-- by being such an idiot.

He's been such an idiot to never say. He wanted to say it in those last moments.

It makes his own chest ache to think of all the wasted time if she'd-- if she'd felt that way. Ethan's gaze lifts up to meet hers when she pulls in that small breath. "Maybe it all could have been... so different," he says in an aching voice as his hand squeezes her own tightly, and his eyes burn because he doesn't want to walk out that door but he will.

It could've been different, but it wasn't and he doesn't know-- He doesn't know why he didn't say. Ethan should have said. There's nothing he will regret more than the fact he let so much wasted time go by.

Edited 2014-04-01 07:16 (UTC)

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[party post] come sail away with me

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