voyagers | open } {in the still of the night...

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open } {in the still of the night...

The ship may seem quieter lately than usual.

It is a quietness that is both eerie and noticeable even to those who may not be as perceptive as others. The stars are brighter or perhaps it is that the sky that they are blanketed across is somehow darker. The waves seem to kick up so loud against the sides of the ship that it can be heard from the top of the deck.

The holograms and ghosts have all but disappeared for the time being.

Maybe it feels like the calm before the storm.

It should.

On the deck of the ship, there is a man who has a very specific purpose for being here. He is clearly not a hologram or a ghost. He is quite obviously very real, but there is something noticeably different about him that would be picked up on immediately whether you find him at the bar having a drink or find him smoking out by the railing. He is in black and white while the world around him remains in color. Ever seen Pleasantville? It's exactly like that.

Clark is specifically looking for Elena Gilbert but is happy to talk to anyone who might approach him. Elena is the one started looking for answers about the ship to find a way to prevent someone she loves from returning to the world he is from. The looking set forward a chain of events. More people are looking for the answers now too wherever they can, trying to poke into pieces of the ship.

The universe took notice, and now he is here.

The answers are out there, and Clark has been given the task of showing them the way to get those answers. He doesn't know the answers himself. All in all, it feels like he knows very little, like he is as much as a part of the mess as all of the people on this ship (even more so perhaps). He only knows what he is supposed to do, what his role is to play, and Clark intends to play that role whatever it takes.

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Clark turns from the railing slowly to look at her, and it is only him that remains in black and white. The sky is color. The railing is color. There is no aura around him that indicates any light is shining on him to create this.

He has a description of Elena Gilbert in his head but not an actual picture so he can't be certain even if this young woman fits the description (Beautiful, dark hair, dark brown eyes with a lot of emotion and intensity to them). There is more that he has heard about her, and he'll decide through speaking to her if this is the young lady that he is supposed to speak to. At the moment, she looks rather confused, which is understandable given the fact that he is a man in black and white only standing in a world full of color.

He could point out many things. He could ask the beautiful woman her name, but instead he will simply acknowledge the obvious at the moment.

"It's the damndest thing, isn't it?"

"That's one way of putting it," Elena agrees wryly.

Just when she thinks she can't possibly be surprised by what the universe throws at them, it always proves her wrong.

Even the way he speaks is something Elena would expect. It's so surreal, and she can't help but wonder if he was brought here from a movie, or if there's more to it than that. He doesn't look surprised to be here, but he couldn't have been here that long, or someone would've seen him by now, wouldn't they?

She takes a step forward gingerly, the wariness still present in her expression. "Who are you?"

Clark smirks a little bit.

It is almost a smirk, almost a smile as he looks at her face. No, he is not at all surprised to be on this ship. Despite the fact that he is so noticeably different than his surroundings, he doesn't look all that out of place on the cruise ship, taking a drag from the cigarette between his fingers.

There's a light, gray puff of smoke that leaves his mouth.

"The name's Clark," he says as he watches her step forward, and he takes another drag from the cigarette between his fingers. The wryness, the snark is another trait that he has heard about as well as the curiosity, the bravery. There's a light pause before he asks, "You wouldn't happen to be Elena Gilbert, would you, my dear?"

Elena keeps meeting people that know more than she does, and they are always terribly charming.

It's a problem.

Eventually, she steps forward along with him, her skepticism turning into full-blown trepidation once he happens to know her name before she's given it. Usually, her gut reaction would be it's someone another version of her has met, but considering he has that look about him - and he's Clark Gable - and he's lacking technicolor, she's going to go on a hunch and say this is not one of those situations like with James.

"That would be me," she confirms. There's no going back now, and even if there were, Elena isn't usually inclined to take a step back once she's plunged forward. It's also a problem.

"How do you know my name?"

It would be so terribly boring to try to avoid jumping into an adventure, wouldn't you say, Elena Gilbert?

Though her trepidation is very understandable given her history. Not that Clark is aware of it himself. His knowledge is limited. He wants answers about why him, where he comes from, who he really is. He is in this for himself now too, and he half wonders if that wasn't part of the reason he's kept in the dark about so much. It'll make him a more effective guide.

"You've been looking into answers about the ship, haven't you? A way to control the door among others. Your reasons are honorable, pure." Protecting someone that she loves, keeping them from returning to their terrible world. "So I have been sent to help guide all of you toward those answers. I knew I had to find you in particular because you started that search so now here we are, doll."

That is a surprisingly good answer, Clark.

She doesn't know that she'd agree about her intentions being pure. Of course she doesn't want Damon to go back to a merciless world that treats Wanderers like them so inhumanly, but it's also selfishly motivated. She doesn't want to lose anyone else; she never does. Her expression shifts immediately, the guardedness leaving her. She can't afford doubts.

"How are you going to guide us toward those answers? What do you know?"

It sounds like he might be only marginally less in the dark than she is.

They are more pure than wanting power, than wanting money or wealth.

Not wanting to lose someone else, it is a fairly pure pursuit in the list of pursuits at least when it comes from those on top, the one on top. Clark thinks there is only one, but it is hard to say. He doesn't have a firm memory of what happened before, of how he got here even if he knows what he should know.

Clark knows what is needed. He lifts his gaze up to look at her, meet her own gaze as he breathes in deeply.

"I know the way," Clark says after a moment. "It'll take three teams of people to get it done, but we can point this boat toward those answers, full speed ahead. I can open the way, three ways to set the boat on the right course."

Granted, one team will have to boat out to get the coordinates while another finds their way to the cockpit and another finds their way to the engine room. It's not simple but then again, nothing ever is.

One would think the announcement of a way would brighten Elena up considerably.

As it is, she just looks at Clark warily.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to involve anybody else," Elena says. Sure, there are others that want answers like she does, but she hadn't wanted to expose anyone to any risks if she could help it. He doesn't mention any risks, but it goes without saying there would be. She isn't naive, after all. "And I'm supposed to take your word for all of it? Just like that?"

'Cause he's asking for a lot, and he's not given her a reason as to why she should believe him, or why he'd steer them truthfully in the right direction.

"I am certain you were, doll, but that's not how it works. A lot of people are going to be needed to get the answers. Nothing's simple. It'll be voluntary. People will get to choose if they want to take those risks or not," Clark says, and at least as far as he knows it'll be voluntary. If it ends up some people are forced into helping, he'll feel terribly about it, but he doesn't know even as much as he'd like to know.

There's a tiny smile that tugs a bit wider at the second question. It's less to do with the nature of the question and more to do with the fact that she is a young, beautiful woman that thinks to answer it.

There's something very charming in his gaze.

"No, it's my opinion that trust is earned. Expecting trust without that, it's expecting faith. I don't expect anyone to have blind faith."

He's right.

Elena never expected it to be simple. She's not naive, even if she might give off that impression with some of her more hopeful notions. Hope is a weapon that can make you strong, but it's also something you tell yourself if you really need to. Elena doesn't always know, or can't always admit, when something is futile. Her stubbornness rarely lets her. This is not one of those times, though. She knows they can change things. She knows Damon doesn't have to go back through that door if they try.

Letting out a breath, she looks over his way again, giving him a new appraisal. (He certainly is charming. It kind of oozes out of him, but she is trying not to let that distract her from the matter at hand!!!)

"Then what are you expecting?" she asks with skepticism. She's still going to do it, she can't afford not to, but that doesn't mean she can't ask her questions.

Elena doesn't strike him as a naive sort of person at all, which is good. They aren't going to need naivety on this trip of theirs, but they just might need hope and stubbornness and determination. He can see how all of those traits would come in handy even if he isn't completely certain about what lies ahead. It won't be easy. There will be risks. In any great journey, there are always risks. It's what makes getting to the other side that much more satisfying.

Clark smiles at her when she looks over at him, when she appraises him. He leans against the railing with the cigarette between his fingers, and the smile slips into something of a charming smirk at the question.

"For other people to think that the journey and the potential answers will be worth the risk," he says, and he knows that is still a lot to ask of the people on this ship, but plenty of them have reason to want to find answers. "Whatever reason we're here, it seems like it would be far easier for this ship to capsize if death was what this place wanted for us, don't you think? I know much less than I'd like to, but I know I'm not here to lead anyone into danger without reward, without an end destination in mind."

... Well. He makes a good point.

It's nothing she hadn't thought of before. If the ship did want them dead, it would've made it happen by now, whether that involved a Titanic-like situation or not. "I do think so, but I also didn't think it would want us to find the answers." At least, forces at play didn't want them to, or they would've been much more readily available sooner.

Otherwise - why now? What changed? There's so many questions and no seemingly clear answers.

At least he's being honest about the risks. She doesn't need to assess these risks. Elena wants to know why they're here, and if that leads them to a way to control the door, then all the better.

Clark meets her gaze after a moment at what she says, and he wishes he knew the reasons why. He knows they want to give them answers. Why else would he be here if they didn't? He doesn't know what changed though. He doesn't know if this was in the plans all along, but he doubts it because it was encouraged by the people on the ship trying to find those answers.

It's why he was looking for Elena specifically, because she started looking for those answers first.

"I think it does want you to find the answers. Like to think so since that is, as far as I know, the reason I'm here," he says, and there is so much he doesn't know about himself. There are questions tangle in his mind. "Maybe it only needed those willing to look around, search for answers, determined to find a way for a specific reason, a good reason, doll. You started looking, and it gave a way. Wouldn't blame you for not trusting it. Wouldn't be smart to trust it completely, but I know the answers aren't on this ship. If they are, all of you would've gotten to them by now."

Elena is perceptive enough to believe Clark when he says he wants answers like they do.

In a way, that's promising. He may be walking into this as blindly as they are, but it also means that he's as determined as they are. He was sent here for a reason. It makes sense, too, that the answers aren't on this ship. Someone would've stumbled on something already, if not herself. She takes a deep breath and thinks of all the very good reasons she has for wanting to find a way. Her determination hasn't wavered, not a bit. If anything, it's been strengthened with time.

"I'm in," she says suddenly, after a moment of deliberation.

"If you're going to go find answers - I want to be a part of it."

There's a smile that pulls across his face, and it is charming but sincere and genuine.

"I was hoping you'd say that." Clark doesn't doubt that she can do it. He doesn't doubt that she's supposed to be there on that trip with him. It makes sense to him, and he doesn't ask what skills she has. It falls into place in a way that he seems to understand. "There will be three teams. Two teams will stay here to ready the ship, and one team? They will be going to get the navigational codes off of the cruise ship. I'll be on the team heading off of the ship. There's risk and danger any way you go, sweetheart, but... my way has the most risk."

He takes a drag from his cigarette with a light smirk as he leans against the railing to face her.

"Not that I think that'll deter you nor do I want it to. Just wanna be straight with you."

Elena takes in everything that he's saying, and it'll likely come as no surprise her inclinations are toward his team.

"It won't," she says after a very short moment of consideration. He's right that it won't deter her. Elena started this, and she's going to make sure that she sees it through. If it leads to more control of the Red Door along with answers as to why they're here to begin with, then she needs to do it. For Damon, for Ethan - for plenty of people she loves that should get to choose where they go. She pulls in a determined breath, and gives him a nod.

"I appreciate it, but I can handle it. I'm going with you."

There's honestly nothing more to say on the matter. Little miss on a mission has found herself another mission.

Clark smiles in quiet admiration when she insist that it won't deter her.

It is something to be proud of honestly, and he is glad to hear she'll be going with him, with his team. He will want her at his side since she did start this all out with her pure intentions, with her wanting to find a way to control the door to help people that she loves not return to the terrible places that they are from.

"Never doubted that you could. You've got a spot on my team, Elena."

That is a guarantee from him as he turns back against the railing to stare out at the sea, the waves, as they wash up against the ship.

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