021 » WHAT GOES AROUND GHOST AROUND

[descendent]

characters: Elena Gilbert and funeral goers—Elijah Mikaelson, Dean Winchester and Helen Magnus.
location: The makeshift cemetery, south Mathias.
date/time: Late evening, say 6pm.
content: Overwhelmed with guilt, Elena holds a little ceremony for the spectre that she witnessed being murdered. In reality, she's holding it for herself.
warnings: Mentions of death, grief, murder.

The makeshift cemetery could use another marker.

Wrapped up in a long, thick winter coat with a patterned scarf wrapped around her neck, Elena isn't quite sure of what to make of the little gathering that's appeared for the spectre. Perhaps they think she's a little lost (they're not wrong) or perhaps they think that she's saying goodbye to someone she knows (she is). Whatever their reasons, it doesn't matter in the end. The one lesson she's learned over the last few years is that strangers or acquaintances tend to pull through for her when she least expects it.

She ensures not to kick the lantern that flickers by her side as she kneels on the snow. It soaks through her jeans and sticks to the denim, but she hardly shivers. It's with an old and worn sneaker (she couldn't find a hammer) that she hammers in the uneven, splintering plank of wood into the earth and snow. She does her best with her human strength, but it's a little on the wonky side.

There's no name on the makeshift marker. Elena had known what name she wanted to put on there, but she uses the excuse of Elijah's presence to forgo using the pen in her pocket.

Letting out an exhale, she looks at the marker. "This is for whoever you've lost that you didn't get to say goodbye to." Plucking the thick pen from her pocket, she still doesn't look up. "You can write that person's name on the wood if you want."

Elena will be when everyone's gone. She'll write two names on the wooden panel.

Jenna Sommers.
Spectre.

[ ooc: Anyone is welcome to have seen Elena determinedly gather things from the general store and abandoned houses and followed her to the cemetery. Action spam/prose welcome.

The above write-up is my top level so I'll assume anyone who tags in wants to interact with Elena. (Please note she has a Madness that means she has a fear of being buried alive or of cemeteries, ha.) That said, please feel free to top level as I imagine some of you may want to interact with one another! (Just imagine everyone coupling off to talk quietly since one big long thread with multiple people is bound to be, in the words of Beyonce, a disas-tuh.)

Any qs, you can reach me here. ]

Comments

elijah mikaelson ( the originals )

[prevenance]

( he doesn't try and talk elena out of this even if he doesn't think it's necessary. elena gilbert will do what she wants, when she wants and if she wants to hold a funeral for a spectre that she feels responsible for, then she's going to do it.

elijah shows up to offer her some form of moral support for her. she's taken the death of the spectre relatively hard and while elijah has a suspicion it's not just the spectre but a combination of things, he doesn't say that to her.

he doesn't want to argue with her or be shut down.

so, he stands close by to her while she says a few words and he watches the names she puts on the wood panel. he thinks that...maybe he should do that himself but he doesn't.

maybe when he's alone and no one else can see him. for the moment, he stays where he is, eyes scanning the assembled masses, feeling the slow burn of hunger curl in his stomach as he does. )

[descendent]

[ elena lingers longer than she should. a growing panic begins to bubble in her chest, and as she remains on her snow-soaked knees, she feels like she's trying to swim to the surface of a very deep, forboding pond. the sensation begins to climb up her spine the longer she stops thinking.

inhaling deeply, elena holds it and gets rid of it with the fierce grip of her pen. what happens next is quick: she raises it above her head and pelts it into the snow nearby.

it's a petulant display, and one she begins to feel horrified by, but the snow and the chill chips away at her walls of trying to appear in control and perfect around elijah. truthfully, she's been masking herself to hide away from her own shadow.

when she exhales, she's panting like she's run a marathon. hands on her knees, she curls her fingers into her jeans. her anger feels so palpable and hot that she considers taking off her thick coat. ]

I'll go get it.

[prevenance]

No.

( to say he's concerned is an understatement. he knows that elena gilbert has been through an immense amount of change in a short amount of time so displays like this shouldn't surprise him.

but he's also seen elena demonstrate enormous amounts of control when faced with adversity so this display isn't all together normal. he waves her off, letting her have a moment to herself while he retrieves what she's thrown.

he sighs, dusting the snow off of it before he comes back to elena, taking several deep, deep breaths to keep his own control under lock and key. )

Your ceremony was nice.

( he wants to ask her about what's just happened but he holds off for now. )

[descendent]

Thank you.

[ for both things—fetching the pen she'd thrown and for his compliment. it hardly feels enough. jenna deserves a tombstone and a proper burial, and she deserves to have on her tombstone an indication that she had been old and grey and had died naturally. tears prick her eyes but heed her wish not to fall.

she doesn't know why the idea of a cemetery fills her with a soft trepidation over her comfort. being amongst the dead had given her a strange source of feeling stable and centred, and now…

ignoring it. that's what she does best.

she frowns as she peers up at him. ] What's wrong?

[prevenance]

Nothing.

( that's his answer today and everyday. nothing is wrong with him that he can't deal with and he has to in order to make sure that he stays focused on what they need to do to adapt to this place and to survive. )

I suppose I'm still getting used to this place, still. But, I'm all right, Elena. Nothing for you to worry about.

( he even smiles slightly. )

How are you feeling now? After doing this for the spectre.

[descendent]

[ regarding him with a slightly disbelieving look, elena lets it go for the moment. elijah is still an unknown entity to her. she doesn't know how far she can push him and she doesn't know if he's someone who likes to talk or prefers to sit in the dark and brood instead. as far as she can tell, he has no itch to pour himself onto a page.

inhaling deeply through her nose, her exhale sees her shoulders slump and her face fall. every bit of strength she had been using to keep herself straight and tall and afloat crumbles now that it's just the two of them. ]

I feel tired. [ really tired. almost two years' worth of tired.

she brushes her hair behind her ear, some of the strands missing the loop. keeping her gaze ducked, she sees her vision blur before she blinks to try and pull it back. looking at jenna's name, she shakes her head. ] And I'm not fine. I'm tired of saying I'm fine.

[prevenance]

( elijah just watches her for a few moments before he nods, understanding. he wouldn't say he's tired but he would absolutely say he's not fine. that's not something he can or will tell her, not with what she's dealing with now.

sighing, elijah steps closer and rests a gentle hand on her shoulder. he hopes she doesn't back away because he only means to try and comfort. )

Come on, let's go back to the room. You need to sit down and I'll find something for you to eat. You can allow yourself the rest of this day to relax.

[notanemptymotto]

[ helen comes to stand near elijah. not too far, and yet not too close. after all, she is an outsider to this small little gathering. what the young woman she said is gentle --- nice. and what she said is far more telling, and she'll hardly say that out loud.

especially to strangers.

she nods to the man she has come to stand beside and remains silent. vigils are meant to be as such.

at least it's a burial some some sort. more than she could have given to ashley, or james. ]

[prevenance]

( though it feels like his usually sharp senses are dulled, he's still very aware of someone's presence beside him when there was no one there before.

he doesn't look over, not immediately, choosing to keep himself still until curiosity gets the best of him and he looks over.

he doesn't recognize the face of the woman that's come to stand beside him but he's learned that people arrive fairly frequently to this place.

perhaps she's one that's just arrived or perhaps she's just one he hasn't met. whatever the answer, he responds to her nod with one of his own. )

[notanemptymotto]

[ helen gives a small unafraid smile, her eyes turning back to the small vigil. it seems wrong to start up a conversation right away. although, it's hardly as if she has a reason to really be at the small graveyard. other than it is where she arrived earlier with neal. ]

[prevenance]

( elijah waits a moment longer before he actually says something. the service is still ongoing but elena has, at least, stopped speaking so he doesn't feel rude for saying something. )

Do you know Elena?

( he glances over, curious. she's unfamiliar to him but elena is more of a social person than he is so she probably knows the entirety of the town by now. )

[notanemptymotto]

[ at that, she shakes her head. ]

I'm afraid I hardly know anyone. I just arrived here this morning.

[ helen gestures to the small graveyard. ]

I woke here and made my way through just a small portion of the town. I was on my way back when I saw the small gathering. I'm afraid curiosity got the best of me.

...I hope I wasn't intruding on something deeply personal.

[prevenance]

No. There was an incident the other night that my friend witnessed that she's trying to commemorate.

( it wasn't very easy to explain to someone who was newly arrived so he tries to keep it vague. )

Someone native to the town passed away in a suspicious manner and my friend didn't want the occasion to pass without the...person being remembered.

( was the spectre a person? he's probably closer to a person than not. )

Dean Winchester | Supernatural

[cholesterol]

( After a bender of a day, Dean sleeps all of two hours before he's wide awake and, if not sober, functioning. He remembers leaving the lantern "he must keep lit" behind. Discovering a wavering flicker, he reignites the full flame. As he leaves, that's when he sees Elena and her funeral procession. Her lantern, and her things, and whomever else is with her. Including 20 questions himself, Elijah.

Steady on his feet, he follows after them, back to the graveyard. He's got a better idea of what is going down as the picture becomes clearer. As Elena sets out her makeshift grave marker, and gathers various rocks she finds, Dean realizes he's drunkenly stumbled into a funeral. This is fine. He's done worse than crash a funeral.

He stands in reverence as anybody speaks, he himself not saying anything. Cas is alive. Jack is God. But, he's still lost many. So, in a way, this feels like a goodbye to them, too, all over again. he doesn't add any names, or find a marker himself. he just stands. he should be colder, but that moonshine has well-coated his veins. )

[descendent]

[ standing, elena lets out a huff. the petulant desire to kick the marker over overcomes her, but she buries it deep down with the rest of her icky, ugly feelings. it won't help her if she kicks it. the spectre is dead, jenna is dead, and stefan is most likely dead, all because of her.

inhaling deeply, she steels her shoulders and leaves elijah for a moment to acknowledge dean. it must be weird to be here, in a spot and an event she barely understands herself.

she regards him with a small smile. ] Hey. Did you find a lantern?

[ it's a better topic of conversation than "hey, thanks for coming to something i don't want to put anymore words to." ]

[cholesterol]

( dean nods, pointing behind him. he'd set his lantern back behind him. he's planning on retrieving it. )

Left it in the theatre for an hour. It stayed lit. ( barely. ) Not taking any chances. Everyone get one?

( If people can lose their lives from not answering the phone, then they could die from not keeping their lantern lit. )

I don't want to see what would happen if someone doesn't keep it lit.

[descendent]

[ she lifts her hand up to brush her hand against the right side of her neck, fingers conveniently ignoring where her scarf sits wrapped around her wounded flesh. ]

Everyone did. [ elena technically didn't since she had one in her possession. they're all here because of that one decision. ]

Make sure you keep it lit, okay? Especially at night. I think we were given them to keep them alight.

[cholesterol]

The note said, Keep it lit.

( His breath is raspy, the drinking from earlier and the unintentional nap coursing through his vocal cords. Not that the cold air helps.

And then, because he did spy the name scrawled onto the wood, he, with care, asks a question. )

Who's Jenna?

[descendent]

[ this is the risk her writing jenna's named posed. someone may find her marker and then ask around who jenna summers was. she's opened and door and she has to welcome those who step through it.

she rubs at her collarbone through her scarf. ]

My aunt. She died back home before I came here.

[ it's simply put. she's allowed to rewrite history, isn't she? ]

helen magnus| sanctuary

[notanemptymotto]

[ Helen has been keeping to herself for the most part since she has arrived in the town. Minus, of course, for the fact she has met a pair of men that certainly bring up familiar feelings of family and ones that she has apparently she has been separated from.

There's much about this town she still has yet to wrap her head around. For one, how did she arrive here? What happened to Adam? Where are the people who originally came from this town? It all makes her head spin a bit and she's not entirely sure what to do.

She slows as she sees the small gathering at the cemetery that she had woken up at. With a glance around, Helen approaches the gathering. She nods to any that come up to her and gives them a gentle smile. Hopefully no one will much notice the bruise on the side of her face.

Needless to say, no one truly looks familiar to her. ]

[descendent]

[ when elena feels overcome with regret—why did she do this? why is she here, standing in a makeshift cemetery, feeling afraid when she had taken so much solace in one at home?—she tries to centre herself. being near elijah helps with that, but she spies someone she doesn't know and impulsively believes that speaking to her will make it better.

yes, speaking to a stranger will make her feel more like herself. she's not necessarily the best welcome wagon yet—no one's given her a graduation certificate—but she's here, she feels unfocused, and not talking about this and why she's done it seems far safer.

she longs for jenna and jeremy and stefan, but all she has is the people who have chosen to follow her like they understood the slouch of her shoulders and the frazzled determination in her step. grief propels her here and it keeps her moving forward, sidling up to helen. she fights down the bubbling panic at the idea of being in a cemetery. ]

There's some cheap makeup in town if you wanted to try and— [ she gestures to the marred side of her face. elena breathes out, trying to overcome the panic climbing her ribcage. she'd used some blush to try and liven up her still pale skin. ]

[notanemptymotto]

Oh, this? [ helen smiles gently, gesturing to her face, her accent quite obviously not american. ] There's hardly a need. I've had far worse in my time.

[ she glances at the graveyard again before turning her gaze back to the young woman. ]

Although it seems like you may have had some rough times here. [ a pause. ] I'm sorry, I'm a doctor. Things like this stick out more to me than they might others.

[descendent]

[ opening her mouth, she closes it. every and any conversation she has and will have about this little event teeters on a very shaky precipice. elena knows what she's doing and why, but not even to herself is she saying the words. she's trying to bury her grief. ]

Oh, well— [ elena frowns, mulling it over. ] There are a few houses where you can get bandages if you wanted to clean up. I'm not too sure if any of them was a doctor... [ she lets out an amused breath. ] This town kind of lacks in helpful signage.

[notanemptymotto]

I've found one... Jackson Boulevard. The first aid kit and hot shower was wonderful. [ she turns, nodding to the way she came. ] I found myself here this morning. Are all these graves for people who are like us? Arrived then passed since then?

[ it is a chilling notion to consider. she folds her arms under her bust to press the heat to her body. ]

If... you don't mind me saying. You could do better to be inside and be warm now that the vigil is winding down. You hardly seem to be in the condition to deal well with the elements.

[descendent]

I… don't know. [ elena hates not knowing. being here has only amplified how out of her own element she is, but there's no point i becoming overwhelmed by it. slowly, she'll learn things, and slowly, she'll be able to navigate it better and be able to journey home or, at least, get elijah back home.

brushing her hair behind her ear, she's slightly grateful for the question, but she knows her answer leaves ample room for their new citizen to press. it's difficult to distract someone when she doesn't know anything to be able to give an in-depth and distracting answer. ]

I'm okay. Thank you. [ she gives her a small smile, feeling a little under the spotlight. ] I'm Elena. If you don't mind me asking… where did you wake up?