everyonelives | some guys think they can't be winners

[If anyone tried to call her out on actually liking Derek, she probably would have rolled her eyes and ignored it. But to say the answer was outright no would be a lie. She's certainly intrigued by him, and they have the kind of relationship forged in fire that only the supernatural can provide.

She's trying not to be overly obvious about it either, the intrigue and the fact that she's been single for a while. Elijah's not coming back. The two of them are done, and Hope's been trying to get her to move on for years. It's something she could get behind.

The problem is, Derek's hard to read. She's still feeling out if he feels the same, so clearly the answer is to spend more time with him until she does. Which is why she wanders into the bayou one night and flashes him a smile.]

Busy?

( Braeden taught him things, how to best use a firearm, how to take one apart and put it back together. How to survive on his terms and not the world's. Somewhere between then and being hunted by the FBI (thank you, Monroe), he breaks it off.

Fine. He disappears.

Meeting back up with Scott, it's easy to return to what he did best. Helping others. His sister returns from South America and they work together - and separate - and Scott and Allison call the shots.

Being bound for a short time wasn't anything he hadn't experienced before, but how it had happened, that was different.

After being bound, the bayou is something different. It's family and loyalty and songs and ale. It's connection, it's something Derek hasn't felt without Cora, and definitely not with Peter. It's relaxing and everything he remembers his childhood being. If he's hard to read, it's because nothing really is on his mind. His sister is with Stiles of all people (which, whatever, he's a full grown adult now and his sister makes her decisions) and he is here, aware that hunters could make their move. But, as vigilant as the wolves are, this is their territory and they'd hunt and kill any hunters who dare enter. It really is a different world.

Derek reaches into the six pack of beer that does nothing for him and offers her one. Beer is camaraderie. )

Nobody in the bayou really is. It's different here. Is it always like this?

I wouldn't say always.

[She does take the beer, moving to sit next to him as she does. She loves it here, loves it more than being with the Mikaelson side of her family. Not that she'd ever let Klaus know that, but here, this pack is one of the first things she fought and bled for, other than Hope.]

Sometimes when the Quarter is a mess, it leaks out here. Occasionally people will come through and target the wolves. But otherwise yeah. I never thought I would be into somewhere this quiet, but it feels like home, you know?

( Hayley fits in here, better than Derek does. It suits her, more than New Orleans itself, more than the French Quarter. Everyone treats her with deference. And Derek has overheard small things. Hayley's legacy. )

Before my sister was killed, I'd gotten used to the city. New York. I was there for school. Beacon Hills wasn't home, and the city wasn't quiet. But, Beacon Hills had a charm.

( Underneath the death. )

Before Scott, I tried forming my own pack. It didn't work out.

I technically inherited mine through marriage.

[She's not stupid enough to think that they were following her before that because they actually had faith in her. They had faith in Jackson, and Jackson believed in her. Eventually, she earned their rest of their trust on her own, but it took time.]

I think it's the kind of thing where it matters if you're ready for it or not.

Even if you think you are, if you're not doing it for the right reasons, it won't work out. I had the wrong idea about what it meant to be pack. And, if I'm being honest, the types of wolves I recruited. Bit.

( He doesn't regret biting them, but maybe Boyd and Erica would still be alive if he hadn't. Maybe Scott wouldn't be. The kanima gave them a few close calls. )

I forced my pack together. I thought I was doing better for them.

We all make mistakes. I certainly made my fair share.

[Hope being one, but honestly the best mistake she ever made.]

But I'd like to think they made me a better alpha in the end.

I gave up being an alpha to save my sister. But, that's not how it works for you. ( For Derek, he killed to be one. And Scott, Scott was one, kind of like Hayley. ) We're different species.

We are. We have a much rougher rite of passage.

[Having to kill someone to activate your gift can lead to a lot of trauma most wolves aren't prepared for.]

And not as many packs to help us through it.

That depends on who you talk to. If you're not Scott McCall, you have to kill an Alpha yourself. Or, these days, it's more ceremonial. It's about respect. A beta can still kill an alpha.

( It's just less common. )

[She shakes her head.]

I don't just mean becoming an alpha. I mean becoming a werewolf period.

Ours are bitten or born.

( Despite not being exposed to it personally until recently, Derek has delved deeply (17) into druidism, species differences, and research. And, what it means for Hayley to be one of the remaining hybrids. He's among royalty, yes, but also someone very unique. )

Ours are always born. It's a gene you have to trigger by killing someone.

[Either intentionally or by accident, it doesn't matter.]

And it comes with some fun angry mood swings to help push us in the right direction.

( Derek nods, having read up on the curse. )

Both species are born of magic, but one is considered more a curse than the other. Monroe would believe it's all a curse.

In some ways, I'm not sure she's wrong. We're paying for choices our ancestors made, and we can't really say for sure whether they're right or wrong. Though it is safe to say I am pretty heavily biased against the Hollow.

[Given the time it spent possessing various members of her family.]

The Hollow?

( He'd heard about the Native American woman, the one that began it all. But not her calling herself the Hollow. )

The Hollow was the witch who cast the werewolf curse. It was triggered by her death, so everyone thought she was gone, but it turns out her spirit got trapped here in New Orleans, and she was using her influence to subtly corrupt people ever since. Make them crave power.

[She sweeps her hair off to the side, and reveals the crescent moon birthmark that sits on her shoulder blades.]

My bloodline is directly descended from her.

Then you are heavily biased.

( Not that he blames her for it, it sounds like there's even more of a story there. )

Do you see being a werewolf as your curse?

[Yep. Maybe on another not date.

But as she considers the question, she shakes her head.]

No. I mean, has it always been a blessing? Not really. But ... I found who I was after I turned, both as a wolf and as a hybrid. I gained so much because of it that I can't really hate it.

[Then a wistful smile crosses her face.]

And there's really nothing cooler than running through the bayou on a full moon and just ... being free.

It's not like that for me. I don't often fully transform, even though I can. It's more an after thought. We're connected most to the lunar cycle. It's why we lose everything during a lunar eclipse.

( Derek feels close all the time, but not because of running through the wild. )

Druidic origins are more based in nature. Your wolves are cursed to the moon, we're empowered.

Well, that's a shame.

[She glances back to him with a smirk.]

That you don't use it more often, I mean. It's probably the best part of being a werewolf for me.

It's not common, not for my kind of wolves. Before me, I only knew my mother could. Talia.

( Maybe that is what he sees in Hayley. His mother. A woman who united factions and packs and kept the balance. He's not going to say out loud that she reminds him of his mother. )

[If Hayley knew more about Talia Hale, she'd probably be honored by the comparison, while also not entirely sure she deserves it. But she acknowledges the mention before tipping her head to the side.]

It being rare precludes you from using it?

Getting naked in any city I happen to be in doesn't happen often. I wouldn't want to rile up animal control.

( He's not often in small towns like Mystic Falls or in bayous in New Orleans. Mostly, he travels city to city and helps Scott. )

Fair enough.

[Then she glances out into the darkness of the bayou, the trees she's run through so many times before. Then she glances back at him with a smirk.]

Wanna go for a run?

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