everyonelives | as we pass through arrangements of shadows

( "Nadia's being catfished, because I haven't been messaging anyone, let alone talked to anyone else except for some fact-checker from my hometown, Hayes."

Please role, Elena, to hide your part in that...

"Nadia and I are not sisters. Nadia is an only child whose father killed himself and whose mother died of a broken heart, or so a very flowery obituary said. She was young and in good health, and until a few years back she was a member of her community. I crashed her mother's wake but didn't interact with Nadia directly, because before the beautiful speeches, Nadia split. I tracked her to this hotel but I haven't been able to find her, it's like she disappeared." )

Edited 2022-04-05 01:59 (UTC)

[At least this poker face is pretty good (18). Elena keeps her face fairly neutral, that melts into a look of sympathy at all that Nadia's been through. She frowns, because she seems to be able to find Nadia, but that could be a good or bad thing.]

If you're not related, then why did you follow her? What are you hunting?

( "What was her boyfriend's name?"

She will get right back to your answer as she sets her gun down on the table and picks up an old tome she's been studying. )

She said it was Phil.

[She hasn't actually talked to the guy, just seen him. She hadn't noticed anything off at the time, but the red flags are definitely pinging at this point.]

( She hands Elena the book and the passage she's been studying. )

Pithius. He's a spirit and the commander of liars. He feeds on hope and whispers lies to his hosts. I think he attached himself to Nadia's father and then her mother. Their deaths were too close together and there was local talk about her father's unfounded paranoia. They were happily married and all of a sudden he would get into very public fights over his wife's alleged infidelity.

( So much that he ended up ending his life over it. )

He's keeping her from me. And using me.

But he's exposing her to me.

[Which is interesting, or maybe a wrench he hadn't predicted in his plan. But it also is making Elena angry, because this kind of thing is one of the reasons why she hates the supernatural.]

She said she was going to the diner across the street with him for breakfast. She's expecting me - us - [She gestures to Katherine.] - there. Maybe we can use that to get her away from him?

( "He prepared for me, he saw me coming. I didn't clock another hunter in the parking lot," she says, which she's going to hold herself accountable over. "What I don't get is what this spirit wants with her. Pithius is commanded by God. What would God want with a small town family?"

As for the diner... )

Technically, only you saw this Phil. You're sure he was there with her?

Pretty sure? He passed me when I knocked on her door this morning, and she was going to meet him after.

[Which she's starting to actually worry about because what if the diner was a ruse? What if he's actually taking her somewhere else to kill her. This is not great, but at the mention of God and commanded by Heaven, maybe she should contact the Heaven expert. She reaches for her phone.]

Maybe I can find out

[And she'll try to call Castiel - which I know is me talking to myself but we can handwave if she can get some info (11 for Cas knowing Heaven things).]

How does Phil work. He drove this man to suicide and her mother wasted away. Where do we think she is in the process?

( She did seem broken.

"Spirits don't usually feed, they torment. But, Pithius is a heavenly spirit." )

[She steps off to the side to have her brief conversation with Castiel, just getting whatever information she can, before turning back to the two women.]

According to my contact, the rules of Heaven right now are kind of all over the place in terms of purpose. It's possible that whoever was monitoring him let him off his leash, and he's just doing whatever he wants.

She says so nonchalantly.

( Katherine isn't the one dating a Winchester.

"Yeah, that's all a little above my paygrade," she says. "Let's stick to saving Nadia from the pretty little liar." What, Natalie's not above appointment guilt television. "What's the plan?" )

Distract and separate? I don't have any of my equipment, long story. Does iron work on heavenly spirits?

( "Coated in holy water. I have both." )

[Elena isn't exactly combat ready, even if she does have some self-defense training. She's all for being a distraction and taking on the separation end of the job, though.]

I try to get Nadia away from him, while you guys take care of business?

( "Preferably not in the middle of the diner," Natalie makes clear. )

I don't know, Elena here stabbed me in broad daylight in the middle of a diner once. Nobody blinked.

Edited 2022-04-05 02:50 (UTC)

[She rolls her eyes, up to the ceiling.]

Yes, we should not do this in the diner.

[She glances back to Natalie.]

If I use you to lure her out, are you okay with that?

[It might add to the heartache in the end, but it might be the only thing that will get Nadia to act without too many questions.]

( "You both forget I don't know her. She's a case. Heartbroken, or not, she'll be alive. That's why I do this." Well, nobody called her sentimental.

"What we need is in the car," she says, leading her way out of the room, gun back in hand and then concealed.

Thoughts start to creep into Elena and Katherine's heads, intrusive thoughts about betrayal and leaving the other one left for dead. Elena/Katherine are only a means to an end. Ask Katherine about the girl she killed or Elena about the friendships she's ended. Trust all of a sudden is at an all time low.

After all, Katherine has the keys to the car. She could leave at any second.

Natalie starts to believe this is all a lost cause. Like most of what she does. What impact does she really make? She has no ties and nobody would miss her when she's gone.

Katherine grips her knife again as the three of them make their way to the parking lot. )

[They're not new thoughts, when it comes to Katherine. The question of "Can I trust Katherine Pierce?" is a question she asks herself every hour, on the hour since they left the hospital together.

And she knows that if push came to shove, Katherine would leave her for dead to save herself. She's not that far into her character arc. Still, she tries to shake off the creeping paranoia (12), and focus on the task at hand: saving Nadia. She follows them out to the car, and tries to scan the parking lot for any sign of the other woman (10).]

( There is no sign of Nadia. like Elena, Katherine is no stranger to negative feelings when it comes to Elena Gilbert. but, she's lived with them for a long time and overcome them, living a life of her own (19). )

Natalie?

( Natalie makes it to the middle of the parking lot before she stops walking.

"This isn't going to work. I'm wasting my time. She's already dead," she says, caught in a spiral (6) )

We don't know that. No one is dead until we're looking at the body.

[Even then, they might not be dead. She would know from personal experience.

She moves past the car and starts to head towards the diner.]

Let's at least go across the street and look.

[Because Elena Gilbert will fight through even the most profound hopelessness (19). It's just who she is.]

Elena.

( Natalie hasn't moved (11), still on her knees, shaking her head.

But, if Elena turns, she'll see past Katherine who's looking back at the stairwell.

Nadia clutches her phone, sitting on the bottom stair and Phil whom she'll remember, crouches behind her, whispering. )

[Elena's head snaps around, eyes landing on the girl in question. Eyes narrowing, she steps forward, moving to bridge the gap between them.]

Nadia?

[She'll try and get close enough to touch her, provided he doesn't stop her beforehand.]

( Nadia doesn't answer.

Phil finishes his sweet nothings, smiles and then looks at Elena directly, standing up straight.

"Nadia thinks she's alone and that she'll always be. She can't see or hear you." )

Most of us rely on the things we tell ourselves to bring us down, what makes you so special?

( "I am special. I was chosen. I was God's." )

Yeah, and God abandoned you his brand new toys in another world. Guess that means you're not so special anymore. Especially since you have to muck around in the mud like the rest of us.

[But after that parting jab, Elena reaches forward, placing her hands over hers that are clutching the phone so tightly.]

Nadia? Nadia, can you hear me? I'm right here. You're not alone.

[The emotional speech will come in the next tag, but there's the start.]

( "Says the former doppelganger," he quips back.

Katherine knows they need more firepower - more than Elena's compassion, so she turns to Natalie and drops down. )

Natalie. Get it together. Nadia is alive. She's over there frozen with fear. That's not you. You push through life. I do, too. It's why I am where I am.

( a (6) gets Natalie's attention, but her silence isn't broken, the despair creeping along her brows. )

[She ignores the quip, keeping her focus on the woman in front of her, curling her fingers over hers.]

Nadia, I know how it feels to be alone in the world. To lose all of your family and have nothing to anchor you to the ground. It's a big dark hole that tries to swallow you whole but that doesn't mean you deserve to be alone.

[She swallows, unsure if she's even getting through.]

I lost my parents too, and so many of my friends. But there's a reason you're still here, and you can't let him take this from you. All he wants to do is make you feel small, but you're not.

( "Yeah, the heartfelt declaration's not doing it for me," Phil says, snapping his fingers.

Nadia lunges forward, with a snarl, trying to send Elena down.(3)

At the same time, something snaps Natalie back into place as she locks eyes with Katherine.

"We push," she says. )

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