everyonelives | as we pass through arrangements of shadows

( Katherine Pierce stalked Elena from afar long before Elena ever saw her face to face. Staying five steps ahead meant she is still well aware of how many cars Elena Gilbert has wrecked. To be fair, the first was destroyed by a tomb vampire. The second by the vengeful (and twisted) spirit of Matty Blue Blue's sister. The third, Rebekah - and the reason she really has to thank Rebekah Mikaelson for making her human. And nobody can forget Elena, Damon and the combustable car killing Markos and the other Travelers.

It's been years and Katherine hasn't nearly been as obsessed with Elena as she once was, the girl with the life she could've had, her only bargaining chip in her race against Klaus. But, she was in town during her and Caroline's daring escape and yet another car accident.

Katherine exudes a modicum of restraint as she replies. )

Let's put more miles between us and any hunters.

( It's her nice way of saying, until she's convinced a hunter won't run them off the road. Katherine's more secure in her own driving skills. She can't blame her...

Katherine, too, needs to change, a modest haul from the, ugh, outlets under her arm as well.

The burnout doesn't react. Motels like this get cash requests often. It's just far enough out of town that the affairs, the divorces, the has-beens find their way. He doesn't question a doctor and a slick lady, he does not so subtly react to their resemblance, taking the cash.

"Room 12," he says, placing two keys down in front of them. "You two..."

Katherine rolls her eyes. She's not about to deny something and draw more attention. )

Are sisters.

( Taking both keys, come Elena, she pushes the door open again and leads the way. She walks along the bottom floor, rooms one through six, before ascending the steps to the second, reaching the last room, room 12.

They pass an ice machine, a vending machine, and a coffee machine all between each door, theirs closest to the coffee machine. This is when Katherine finally hands Elena her key and uses the one in her own hand to unlock their fleabag. Or, she tries. It doesn't budge. She turns to Elena to try the key she was given to no avail. Looking at the keyring and the keychain, she sees the number painted in gold, a '2'. She sighs, holding it up for Elena. )

Stoners. Wait here.

( Katherine descends the opposite steps back down. From here, Elena has a full view of the parking lot, including an annoyed, fatigued Katherine bursting back into the small lobby office.

As Katherine bursts in, a despondent brunette exits her room a few doors down and approaches the coffee machine beside Elena. She flashes a sad smile. Under the fluorescents, she looks like she hasn't had much sleep and the puffiness around her eyes may suggest she's been crying. She sniffles and inhales, pulling a dollar out of her purse. She holds it up to the insert and it slides in, quickly sliding out. She tries flattening the dollar along the edge of the vending machine. She inserts it again. It sputters back out at her. She turns the dollar over and gets the same result.

"I just want coffee." She speaks under her breathe, tries again. It doesn't work. She tries again and it slides pitifully back out at her. She hits the machine from the front once, "Come on!" twice before she starts to pound on it out of frustration.

"I know there's coffee in this machine!" )

[Elena knows she shouldn't take the bait, but this is Elena Gilbert we're talking about. She's accused of being soft-hearted on a good day, and even on a bad one she can find some depth of sympathy for this woman who just wants a cup of coffee. Shifting her stuff to one side, she steps forward to try and get her attention.]

Want me to try it?

( She turns only her head, flat palm against the vending machine, clearly trying to keep it together. She nods, holds her dollar bill out and steps out of the way when Elena takes it in her hand.

Make a ... DEX roll Elena. )

[The life of a doctor is made up of unruly vending machines in between rounds, and she knows this pain well. Taking some time to further smooth the dollar against the machine, she steps in and slides in the dollar, giving the appropriate knobs a twist (20).

Soon, a steaming hot cup of coffee fills beneath the nozzle, and she pulls it out to pass to the woman behind her.]

Here. All done.

( The machine comes to life and one of this girl's prayers is answered. She lets out a long suffering sigh. Something has gone right today. Elena is like an angel who checked into the room near to hers, one that got a stubborn, formerly crumpled dollar to work.

She realizes what she must've looked like. )

Thank you. ( She takes the cup. ) I swear I'm not a crazy person who loses it over a dollar bill and a coffee machine.

I believe you.

[Because Elena has thrown fits over much lighter things, when the rest of her world was coming down around her.]

Seemed like it was one of those days.

Weeks. Week. ( Her hand shakes as she takes a sip of shitty motel vending machine coffee. But, coffee is coffee. She holds her arm close to herself as she tries to keep warm, hugging her chin to it. ) It's a long story.

[Elena shrugs as she crosses her arms in front of her chest, leaning into the vending machine as she does.]

Want to vent it out to a random stranger?

[Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. Least she can do is offer.]

Okay, I know I said I'm not crazy, but - I'm going to sound crazy.

( Elena asked. )

I was supposed to be meeting with a sister I've never met. Very heartwarming story on Reddit, I know. I never knew she existed, she never knew I existed, only that at separate times, we were both living in this motel. I was here when I was, maybe, 3 for a few months with our mother. And she was, three years before me. Because our mom worked here at one time. She's even in one of the pictures down in the lobby. Our mom, not my sister.

Oh wow.

[She's not sure what she would think of having this place as a personal milestone but she visits the bridge where her parents died a lot, so she's not really one to judge.]

Did you come here to meet her?

( Of all places, right? But you can't choose your family, or your family history. )

She said she was here. We made this plan. I wrote it down right. Sometimes, I get dates mixed up, but, this date, I knew.

I'm sure you did.

[How? Unclear, but despite everything Elena still has some confidence in the good intentions of the world.]

Maybe something happened. Have you tried calling her?

She stopped answering my calls and texts the night before I arrived. People get busy, they get tired, they sleep. And I waited the first day for her to pull the trigger. She found me -- and, I don't know, it's like I needed her to really solidify wanting to meet me. And then, nothing. And, I know she's here. We shared our locations, and I saw her name on the computer screen when I asked the front desk for warm towels. But, I don't know what room and -- and that kid told me he has no idea who I'm talking about. I just - I feel like I'm going crazy, and like I wasted my time. But, I'm also -- I'm just really worried. And -- and when I worry, I can't sleep and when I can't sleep --

( She holds up her cup. )

Do I sound crazy?

No, you don't sound crazy.

[A little obsessive, but when it comes to meeting a sibling you didn't know you had, she can't really say she blames her. And there does seem to be an uncomfortable amount of coincidences.]

But ... definitely a little intense?

[She tries not to make that sound bad, because she doesn't mean it that way.]

A little? ( Please, Elena. ) I know me. I live with me. My boyfriend, Phil? We met like right before Natalie first surfaced and he's been through the entire saga. He works in a zoo, he calls me his owl. I'm hyper-intensive and he just takes it all in stride. He's actually here with me, asleep in the room. If I didn't have him... ( Well, maybe she'd be going even crazier. ) I just, I think about something and then I can't stop and then I get anxious and thinking becomes overthinking. Like what if something happened to her and her phone is just... here in the hotel. But she's...

I ... trust me. I know this thought spiral very well.

[She's had it on more than one occasion, given how dramatic her life can be. She also can see why the woman would have reasons to be concerned.]

But sometimes it is just that. A spiral, and odds are she's fine. Her phone says she's here - do you know what her car looks like?

No. But, there's one car that hasn't moved, like hasn't moved in three days. If she's here, and inside her room, then why wouldn't she answer for three days? At first, I thought I'd give her time. And then the front desk denied she was even staying here, which are I guess affair rules, and it's not like I have a picture of us. Just of her. And that kid just denies she's here.

( She shakes her head a few times, shoulders rising. )

I just - something's off. And I'm lucky my boyfriend is even staying through this. Through the crazy.

[Elena nods, because that is a little odd. But she doesn't think she wants to poke around with the woman with her, given the fact that Elena is thinking whoever owns that car is probably dead in a room somewhere.

She glances over her shoulder, to see if Katherine is on her way back, and then goes to peer at the cars:]

Which one is the one that's been stuck here?

( Katherine does emerge just then, bell ringing, but Elena has a little bit of a back and forth left before she joins. Katherine is more interested in the pavement against her expensive shoes then what's happening above. )

It's that green Prius.

( She shrugs, moving closer to the edge before she sees Katherine approaching the stairs. )

You two --

( Maybe not a back and forth because Katherine click clacks up the stairs to find Elena and -- this person.

"Late night snacking with a friend," Katherine asks. )

Late night fight with the coffee machine.

[A pause as she turns back to her new friend.]

She's my sister.

[But she makes note of the Prius and files it away.]

Look, I would recommend going to get some sleep. I'm sure something with your sister will turn up soon.

( Hm. She seems harried. Definitely the kind of mess of a flame Elena would be drawn to in the middle of the night at a motel.

"Nadia," she says with a pleasant, if lacking, smile. "I'm Nadia. I'll see you tomorrow, okay? It was nice to meet you. Both. And thanks for listening."

Don't say it Elena. Katherine just burns holes into the back of her mind as she's taken back, the keys in her hand, ornate, one dangling down. )

Get some sleep.

[But no, she won't say anything. She is totally not going to say anything. She might be planning to wait for Katherine to go to sleep and then investigate, but that's neither here nor there.]

The front desk guy give you any trouble?

( A rough memory stuffed back down, she turns to the door. )

Only made me argue the difference between a 6 and a 9. He's a bottom feeder.

( She opens the door and shuts the light on, dropping her things on the bed furthest from the door. )

You fixed the coffee machine?

More like I wasn't super anxious so it was easier to manage.

[She takes the other bed, dropping her stuff next to it.]

She was having a bad day.

Really, just the day.

( She sits on the edge of her bed, pulling off her heels one at a time. )

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