power attracts power

      “Croquet was awful-–as were the         ladies that chose to spend time         with my father. The laughter was         worthy, TRUST ME. What’s desirable         isn’t always what WORKS.” 

“It depends on whether you knew how to work with what you had or not.” Celeste smiled indulgently at him. 

     “I can’t say i’ve ever had the pleasure of wearing a       corset, besides i’m not sure I could——PULL IT       OFF, although I do remember many ladies fall victim       to their corsets and faint on the croquet field. My        brother and I used to consider it mild entertainment.” 

“I’m quite sure you could if you tried. Having a small waist and wide shoulders on a man is always desireable.” She smirked a little and shook her head, snickering behind her hand, “That’s awful.” 

“— Unfinished business. What’s your reason?”

“I’m magically bound to the city.” 

"What?" she was surprised to hear her words but took the necklace and up her gaze to hers. "What is this?".

“It’s a shielding charm. It’ll work for about twenty-four hours, so I suggest you book it.” 

Her smile softened again and she looked back to the picture on the wall, “It’s quite alright, she’s lived a long and full life. Quite an exciting one, actually. Well, from what she’s told me.” She had to tack that little bit onto the end since she was pretty sure this stranger wasn’t ready to know her actual age. 

“It’s adorable, though. I remember dressing similarly. Though the corsets were a much worse deal than what you had.” 

“I’m not sure I appreciate your tone.”

“I’m pretty sure I don’t care.” 

      This made Joel smile and he shrugged. “I can’t really reach the sink to shave properly these days, so I’m getting there,” he responded and looked her over. “And do I? I haven’t heard that one before,” he remarked. “I’m Joel, by the way.”

“Which is why you shave while you’re in the bath.” She said with a nod, smiling back at him. She held out a hand to him and her smile turned amused, “Yes, you do. The two of you could be twins.” She tilted her head to the side, “I’m Celeste, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Joel.” 

             ❝ take his head, instead. ❞

“Which head? Either way, it’d just grow back.” 

“Perhaps next time you’ll take a page out of my book. I’ll even save            save you the trouble of expressing your gratitude: you’re welcome.”

“I don’t think gratitude is quite the right word for what I would like to express, but whatever helps you sleep at night.” This was probably the most civil conversation they’d ever had. 

Dropping his hand, he shook his head. “I don’t expect you to understand the choices I’ve had to make. What he did was unforgivable, but as he is my brother I did what I had to do to move past it… Some would say the things you have done were unforgivable, so perhaps moving forward would be the best way to find level ground.” He sighed, leaning his shoulder against the wall as she moved away from him.“That really doesn’t constitute as an excuse for not revealing you were never really dead, Celeste. No matter how toxic you claim my relationship with my family to be, yours with revenge could also be labelled as toxic. What would you have had me do?… Leave my siblings to suffer the tyranny of my brother alone?”

“Would you have believed me? And how long do you think it would last? You and I know Klaus wouldn’t want you to be happy by someone’s hand that wasn’t his own. He’s very selfish with you. As I was.” She smirked a little and continued to grind the mortar. “At least I had proper reason for wanting to kill your brother. He had me dead so he could continue his sport of killing the townsmen. He had the majority of my coven dead. My family, Elijah.” She pulled the grinder out and slammed it against the counter, to illustrate her anger. Dark eyes meeting his again. “Tell me if your family was dead, you would not seek vengeance.” She sighed and shook her head, “Your sister only came back for you. She knew how to stay away from him. She wanted him dead at one point as well. I recall she did kill me to keep her and Marcel’s little plan to themselves.” A short pause, “And I have no longer sought out my vengeance against Klaus. Not anymore. I have moved on, so to say. I suggest you move on from him as well.” 

Temporary. Elijah shoved his hands in his pockets and said nothing, his jaw working as he fought back a bitter retort that would lead nowhere. As if he didn’t mourn her at all for the last century. “How lovely. You finally get to escape your shackles of my family…” There was a slight bitterness to his tone that was edged on her shrugging off his feelings for her, and also the idea of her leaving. Though he honestly was happy for her. Checking himself, he relaxed into a smile. “I am happy for you Celeste, do not get me wrong.” Reaching out, he lifted her chin with a gentle finger to pull her attention away from the mortar to him. “Your nonchalance at my feeling is incorrect. I did love you, perhaps I always will in some regard.” 

“Yes. I’d prefer to not have them take turns killing me. Klaus, Rebekah, you.” Dark eyes flitted to him again as she ground up the ingredients, her mouth pursed in concentration. She met his gaze steadily, tempted to slap his hand away and sneer at him. But her hard stare gave away nothing. “Then why was it so easy for you to stay with Klaus?” And she brushed his hand away and continued to grind those ingredients before walking into a backroom and coming back with a cloth scroll, unrolling it as she pulled out dried herbs from it’s pockets. “I believe you did love me, Elijah and I watched you mourn me. But you were always in the company of your toxic relationship that your family so desperately clings to.” 

       ”Doesn’t take much. All they do really is pass out magazines and entertain people. Can’t be too difficult,” Joel responded and looked her over. “I’m sorry. It’s always so sad when it gets to that point.” And Joel was picturing someone younger; but he wasn’t going to ask. She was looking at him oddly. “What? Is there something on my face?”

Celeste shrugged again, not sure if she could pull that sort of emotion out of the pit of her stomach for strangers when her friend was dying. Then offered him a slight smile, like she had a secret. “No, well, yes, it looks like you’ve got dirt smeared over your jaw and mouth, but that’s just hair.” That smile turned cheeky, “You just remind me of an old friend of mine.” 

    Joel looked at her and smiled a little, but it didn’t meet his eyes. “Probably yes,” he responded. “Every Saturday. For the kids, you know? The doctors tend to enjoy it too,” he commented, tapping the handles of his chair. “You’re new. I’ve not seen you here before.”

Her own smile faded a little and she shrugged again, “Sounds like fun, perhaps I should look into the qualifications for being a candy striper.” Celeste adjusted the strap of her bag, “I’m visiting a friend of mine. She’s in hospice. So I may run into you more often.” Her friend had been quite surprised by her face since the last she saw of her was in the twenties. 

She saw him out of her periphery first, and his voice wasn’t the same, but that was definitely his face. But she didn’t let her surprise show, instead she moved to the side to show him a picture of another one of the doctors reluctantly having their face painted. “I’m guessing a candy striper came through?” 

❝———C E L E S T E.            And here I thought we were done with      chance encounters.❞

“You’re the one who walked right into my shop, Elijah. I highly doubt this is chance.” Not to mention she was in a back room of it, so she had to be specifically sought out.