there's something due any day

[braveandstupid]

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[engender]

See you there.

( He thought maybe she'd stay back in the city, but seeing her again. That'll be nice. )

[werewolfqueen]

[If Hope were in town, that might be the case. But when she's not and Hayley needs a break from the Mikaelson drama, she retreats to the Bayou to be with her pack. It feels more at home than the Abattoir, than the French Quarter. And, honestly, it's the place where she can most be herself.

Derek arrives and a lot of the first hour he's here is function - finding a place for him to sleep, introducing him to the other wolves he doesn't know, letting him get accustomed to the space. But after dinner passes and the wolves settle into their little fire circles for the evening, she makes her way closer, offering a beer to him.]

How're you settling in?

[engender]

( The bonfire is something, it's like a real celebration. No sign of anything heavy coming, just jovial attitudes, free-flowing beer and liquor, dancing... It's a party. It's not what Derek does and he looks out of place sitting on his own.

He accepts the beer and moves over on the log he'd perched on. )

Thanks. ( How is he settling in. He looks down into the bottle, nodding. ) Easy. Found a bed. Everyone is very welcoming here.

[werewolfqueen]

[She nods, because it's true.]

Well, you're not a vampire. They get a much different welcome.

[Unless they're Josh. That being said.]

But yeah. Around here, wolves are a pretty rare breed, and this pack in particular spent a lot of their lives trapped as wolves thanks to a curse, so every time we get a chance to celebrate, we take it.

[engender]

Vampires and werewolves, they don't mix.

( It was only recently that he learned vampires were an actuality. )

You go hard. ( Is that a keg stand? ) Were you also trapped in that curse?

[werewolfqueen]

Not the first time.

[She wasn't in New Orleans at the time. She was crashing her parent's boat and triggering her werewolf curse.]

But my daughter's father and I had a mild disagreement about how we were parenting our two year-old so he cursed the pack a second time, and I was part of that one.

[engender]

Your...

( So. )

Klaus. The vampire that - hybrid that helped save me. He cursed you into remaining a wolf in the bayou because of coparenting. And you two are. Fine. Now.

[werewolfqueen]

Yeah.

[Now that you've made her think about how that sounds.]

We worked it out. And honestly, Klaus has mellowed a lot in recent years. Still prone to momentary fits of dramatic but way less scheming and revenge plots.

[engender]

Momentary fits of the dramatic. You - were cursed. ( He needs a sip from his beer now. But, It's not like he doesn't have a similar story. ) My ex kidnapped me and turned me back into my teenage self. And that was years after seducing me as a teenager and then burning my family's home down.

[werewolfqueen]

[She winces because that is a lot.]

Yeah, I was cursed, but if Klaus really was pissed at me, it would have been worse.

[Much worse. Klaus' reputation is what it is for a reason.]

That sounds really rough though. Is she still around?

[engender]

No, she actually died. She - became a werejaguar and returned, and after kidnapping me, kidnapped my alpha and brainwashed him. ( He winces, taking another sip. ) She was killed shortly after that. And my Alpha, Scott, was saved. That was when I unlocked my full wolf form.

[werewolfqueen]

[She smirks.]

Sounds like where you're from is just as crazy as things around here.

[engender]

I wish that was my only ex that did something like that. I sympathize.

( And he's worked through those deep deep issues. )

[werewolfqueen]

[She raises an eyebrow at him.]

There was more than one?

[engender]

I - did not have luck in that department. A new English teacher literally drew me under her spell while making Druidic sacrifices in the night.

( Braeden was his best relationship, but that just fizzled. )

[werewolfqueen]

Well, in the interest of full disclosure. There was a guy who I kind of sold out in exchange for information on my birth parents. Then, there was the drunken one night stand with the Original hybrid that somehow got me pregnant with a loophole miracle baby. Then, I married my co-alpha and that was actually really nice and normal until he got murdered by people out to get the rest of the Mikaelsons.

[Which, you know sucked.]

And then I dated my baby daddy's brother for a while, but that got awkward when he erased me from his memory in order to protect my daughter from an uppity evil ghost of my ancient witch ancestor who created the werewolf curse.

[So, you know. You're not alone in your sordid dating history.]

[engender]

( He just sets the beer down. That's even too much for beer. )

I might need a chart. ( That was more than a lot, though. ) How interlaid with the Mikaelson family are you now.

( Enemy of their enemy? )

[werewolfqueen]

They're family.

[In the simplest of terms.]

Klaus and I co-parent pretty effectively - not that Hope needs it much anymore, being eighteen. And Elijah and I ... he's got his memories back, but he fell in love with someone else. But we're on pretty neutral terms.

[engender]

These hunters, they're after everyone. How does it feel not being enemy number one?

( And after everything, both Scott and Allison trust her. But, if that endangers the pack past everything Monroe, they'd pull out. Scott had a quiet presence, Allison, too. But, emerging like this, they are more out in the open than ever. )

[werewolfqueen]

It's kinda nice, actually. My life before had been an endless barrage of Mikaelson bullshit. Now there's enough bullshit to go around for everyone.

[More or less. Still terrible though.]

[engender]

Something to really celebrate.

( Derek's deadpan, essentially. )

[werewolfqueen]

[She laughs.]

You try having your daughter's life threatened day in and day out because her father is unkillable and that's the best way to hurt him.

[engender]

Nobody came after me, but my mother was very notable among the werewolf packs. I was actually the one that reached out for help when I needed it. I made mistakes that way.

( Paige, to start. )

My mother and my siblings died in the fire Kate set. One of my sisters, Cora, she survived. After discovering that, I did hide her away in South America. ...Habit.

[werewolfqueen]

We sent Hope off somewhere else to be safe so many times. Once to Klaus' sister, to the school ... just anywhere to keep her out of the mess. Sometimes you need to be apart from people to keep them safe.

[She glances back to him.]

I just hope she doesn't resent you for it.

[engender]

We're both in Scott's pack, so, often we end up in different locations. But, we stay in touch.

( Sometimes, they're sent to the same location. )