Eʟᴇɴᴀ Gɪʟʙᴇʀᴛ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
forgetyourusedtobe) wrote2013-08-01 12:22 pm
forgetyourusedtobe) wrote2013-08-01 12:22 pm
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[The swelling of her nose is gradually going down and the bruises are fading, but not fast enough. Elena stands at her dresser, inspecting it for a moment in the mirror before she starts applying some make-up to cover the bruising. She winces and flinches in the privacy of her room, sometimes tears spring into her eyes without permission. She wipes them away when she's finished.]
[Looking down at her dresser, she sees the framed picture of her and Jeremy she asked Racetrack to get for her as part of her pretending to start giving a damn. Of course "If Jeremy could see me now..." crosses her mind even as she picks it up. She can feel it right there behind that carefully crafted wall. Shame, guilt, even how much she misses him even if he'd just look away from her in disgust or try to convince her like everyone else she's made mistake in keeping her emotions off.]
[That's assuming he didn't try to kill her all over again. He was right in the end. His sister is gone. She shares her face, her name, her voice, but that's it. Where he was wrong, however, was in acting like this was somehow a bad trade-off. Like this wasn't inevitable or for the best. Even Elena used to think the way he did when she tossed around the idea of becoming a vampire in her head before. But what's two more people who were wrong? It's a growing list. She can feel herself tense, her grip on the frame tightening, muscles in her arm growing taut to throw.]
[Elena looks back up into the mirror at herself and sets the thoughts all aside. She sets Jeremy's picture down, face-down and leaves.]
[Elena is angry, she decides. Not at Dean, but at herself. She shouldn't have been that sloppy to get caught. Snatch. Eat. Erase. That's what Damon taught her. But there's no erase. So, she's had to improvise and it was bad and sloppy. She should've known better.]
[One of the punching bags in the gym is being subject to her wrath. The cut on her leg is now just a thin line, the scrapes on her hands and knees are shrinking scabs, nearly gone already. To anyone who doesn't know, she's just a girl who's mad about getting hurt. In a way, she is. But mostly, she's trying to regain her focus.]
[She's patient. She knows her real prey. She just needs to be smarter, to be better. She's not going to repeat mistakes. She's not going to be Damon or Stefan.]
[By the time she's exhausted herself, she's calm and she's focused again. She doesn't worry about her previous mistake. She won't do it again. Even if she could, she knows Dean will be watching her now. Mal, too. That's too many sets of eyes on her as it is. But, she can remind herself now that if anything, this has worked to her advantage. It makes her seem vulnerable even if it doesn't remove her as a threat entirely. But it does make her seem far weaker and more impulsive and vulnerable than she actually is. She can use that. Let him write her off.]
[She leaves the gym for her room with a tired, but still fairly bright smile.]
((ooc: If you're not sure of when, you can run into her before/after she hits the gym or while she's in the gym beating the snot out of the punching bag. c:))
[Looking down at her dresser, she sees the framed picture of her and Jeremy she asked Racetrack to get for her as part of her pretending to start giving a damn. Of course "If Jeremy could see me now..." crosses her mind even as she picks it up. She can feel it right there behind that carefully crafted wall. Shame, guilt, even how much she misses him even if he'd just look away from her in disgust or try to convince her like everyone else she's made mistake in keeping her emotions off.]
[That's assuming he didn't try to kill her all over again. He was right in the end. His sister is gone. She shares her face, her name, her voice, but that's it. Where he was wrong, however, was in acting like this was somehow a bad trade-off. Like this wasn't inevitable or for the best. Even Elena used to think the way he did when she tossed around the idea of becoming a vampire in her head before. But what's two more people who were wrong? It's a growing list. She can feel herself tense, her grip on the frame tightening, muscles in her arm growing taut to throw.]
[Elena looks back up into the mirror at herself and sets the thoughts all aside. She sets Jeremy's picture down, face-down and leaves.]
[Elena is angry, she decides. Not at Dean, but at herself. She shouldn't have been that sloppy to get caught. Snatch. Eat. Erase. That's what Damon taught her. But there's no erase. So, she's had to improvise and it was bad and sloppy. She should've known better.]
[One of the punching bags in the gym is being subject to her wrath. The cut on her leg is now just a thin line, the scrapes on her hands and knees are shrinking scabs, nearly gone already. To anyone who doesn't know, she's just a girl who's mad about getting hurt. In a way, she is. But mostly, she's trying to regain her focus.]
[She's patient. She knows her real prey. She just needs to be smarter, to be better. She's not going to repeat mistakes. She's not going to be Damon or Stefan.]
[By the time she's exhausted herself, she's calm and she's focused again. She doesn't worry about her previous mistake. She won't do it again. Even if she could, she knows Dean will be watching her now. Mal, too. That's too many sets of eyes on her as it is. But, she can remind herself now that if anything, this has worked to her advantage. It makes her seem vulnerable even if it doesn't remove her as a threat entirely. But it does make her seem far weaker and more impulsive and vulnerable than she actually is. She can use that. Let him write her off.]
[She leaves the gym for her room with a tired, but still fairly bright smile.]
((ooc: If you're not sure of when, you can run into her before/after she hits the gym or while she's in the gym beating the snot out of the punching bag. c:))
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[It's a terrible, trapped feeling, and it's choking, but he's not going to run. He wants to relegate her to the same irrelevance he's mentally relegated Two-Face to. So he stays. He's taken some of Zane's shifts, so he sees her too much, but he stays.]
[That's something, isn't it? He can push away the memory of her bare hands. He's staying. It's fine.]
[Just cleaning the shit out of this mirror.]
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[That's interesting.]
[She knew that when she touched him, he tensed and he didn't have a single smart-ass thing to say to her on her way out of his hospital room. An uncomfortable weak-point like that and he just bared his throat to her like that. Tsk, tsk.]
[She lets him ignore her for a little while. Or rather, she lets him try. Elena knows the longer she doesn't break the silence outside her punches and the squeaking of his cloth on the mirror, the more he can't help but notice her. Of course, it's probably her fault somehow that he can't exist in a room with her without having that kind of hyper-focus on her.]
[Eventually, she takes a small break in her assault on the punching bag, grabbing it to steady it. Her broken nose is more obvious when she speaks, but she feels like it's hardly worse than if she had a headcold.]
Is your little tactic to pretend I'm not here working any? Is that some Mr. Miyagi bullshit you've started subscribing to?
[She turns to face him, but doesn't approach just yet.]
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[The two of them, of course, know better.]
[He rolls his eyes at the mirror, body language casual, the hint of a smirk at the corners of his mouth. He presents more or less the way he presented the first day, all walls up.]
Sorry, did we have a social engagement nobody told me about?
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[Now she's finally making her approach. She stops just mere inches behind him, watching him in the mirror. She's searching for any sign of weakness and she knows he's aware of it. Elena's a predator, it's only natural.]
I don't want to fight or hurt you.
[Not yet.]
[She starts walking her fingers up his back, resting her hands on his shoulders.]
I'm just making friendly conversation. I just wanted to see how you were doing. Haven't heard a peep out of you in a while. I was worried you were starting to forget about me.
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[His expression doesn't change much, but for another eye roll.]
I've been busy. Like you. I saw you did a bad, bad thing.
[He isn't sure what they expected.]
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[She shrugs a little and moves closer to him. Her eyes move from his reflection to his neck.]
Apparently, I'm supposed to feel ashamed or something. They really don't seem to understand how impossible that is for me right now. Or ever will be for that matter.
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I didn't realize "emotions turned off" was such a hard concept for people.
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[That doesn't stop her from running a finger on his neck, however, to try and get a rise out of him.]
Neither did I. You'd think my own warden would at least try a little harder to understand the idea.
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Maybe she's an idiot. Crazy concept, I know.
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[She knows the fear response when she sees it. The only actual contact with him is through her hands, particularly her fingertip, but she can still feel all that tension. She smiles easily and cants her head.]
You know, I can see why anyone would be distracted by those cheekbones of yours, Baby Face, but...
[She ups her touch to not just one, but two fingers now. Elena also moves her mouth closer, increasing the threat of a bite. Her gaze shifts from his neck finally back to his in the mirror.]
...Has anyone told you what a pretty neck you have?
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Bullshit. You're not gonna pull anything in public, Elena.
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Who said anything about pulling anything, Cassel? Can't a girl objectify a guy without being accused of making a threat?
I'm pretty sure your blood would taste like shit anyway.
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Relax, Baby Face. [She leans close to his face again and points at the mirror, tilting his head to see.] I was just going to tell you that you missed a spot.
[She lets go and backs off, holding her hands up in mock-surrender.]
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[No point in pretense now. Seriously. Fuck off.]
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Ooh, maybe I'll go have dinner with Chris.
[She turns on her heel and starts to leave.]
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[She stops, but only turns a little towards him.]
You already know you're a piece of shit, Cassel. I have other plans for you.
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Anything else?
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