the scents of fauna and humidity cling to the air, freshly stirred by the emergence of a bird from a bush near the two cousins, a wiggling worm in it's beak as it flies up and away. blue hues stare after it, as if it evokes some kind of strange memory-scape within elena. she remembers a crow in a tree raining leaves upon her. she remembers the image of a snowy owl in a barn. these flashes are blink-and-you'll-forget level brief, disjointed or-- well, disconnected perhaps. she has moments like this, from time to time, glimpses into something that's no more. on some level she's begun to understand that it was in fact, something, once, but now is no more though all the links in-between are still lost to her. it's like her connection with her cousin, elena considers as her eyes drift from the disappeared bird to john's features, stronger than it makes sense to be in how things are, and yet, familiar and true.
she's not sure if she's supposed to understand.
she thinks, maybe it's some stubborn part of her refusing to fully give in to something yet contrarywise, it holds her further steadfast in her current path and her conviction that what was at play now was a kind of.. newly formed kismet of it's own. it reminded her of the jars of crystalized violets her grandmother used to keep on display. on one visit they'd be organized by color and on the next there'd be jars which held a mixture, presumably because her grandma had decided to reopen them and mix up the contents, remaking the jars anew.
'so, you two are allies.'
elena's focus shifts back into the present upon his statement. for that was what it was, a statement of fact and yet it felt not enough-- an understatement even if elena was unsure what term would better suit it.
again, there's no waver in her tone though she's aware of how things must appear to john. or at least, she has some kind of idea of how it might. what sense it did make upon the surface that there should be any true loyalty between a twenty-something girl and the original hybrid who's histories had been storied across centuries? she's sure it would seem she is a pawn just as much as whatever or whoever marcel has hidden away and used thus far to keep the quarter under his control.
(they will discover what such is, elena is determined upon such.)
however, elena is no pawn anymore than she'd ever allow herself to be used in a fashion she wasn't readily willing to use upon her own quest. klaus has proven himself more than once in his willingness to protect her. true she is of use to him and she holds no illusions that at first such was the cause, but now... something had begun to ignite even back in fell's church that drew him to her when he'd saved her from tyler and those icy waters the teenager had pushed her into in his quest to save himself. something had... awakened. something that she thought neither of them fully understood and yet tied her to him as much as she knows it did klaus to her.
the bprd might not be into taking sides, but elena's path was chosen from the first moment a man she'd later discover a hybrid had commented on a painting at the museum in paris while her aunt took little meggie to get juice that summer before senior year. elena hadn't known she'd stand here now then, but she had known on some level that her life had had a before and after and something had changed irrevocably. sometimes it scared her, how intense that feeling was but it also thrilled her.
"you being here means you already know what's happening." elena quips though she understands what he means, allowing another sigh to follow from her lips. "this city is on the verge of war and no war has ever been fought without innocents hurt." it's a fact that sets elena at unease even if she's already committed herself to the knowledge that such would be unavoidable. (doesn't mean she can't try to prevent as much bloodshed as possible though!)
"you know, i'm not ignorant. i know what's said about him. perhaps i don't know every gory detail but i know enough. i also know he's not the one killing witches for using their own magic or cursing wolves. he can be brutal, but he's not cruel for the sake of it." she thinks there's likely much more depth to marcel's choices too but it didn't matter really. elena wasn't switching sides anytime soon. actually, not ever. "klaus is a hybrid." she reminds as her cousin grips her shoulders. a hybrid who had a part of himself locked away. "he wouldn't do what marcel is doing." perhaps in a few specific cases of those who cross him, but not to the whole of the community.
"that's complicated john. or maybe it's not complicated at all." she huffs in a bit of frustration directed at herself. "do you know what broke the curse his own mother placed on him?" elena questions, figuring that this much has been kept from whatever records the bprd might have been able to gather. she knows klaus had also spread much misinformation.
"my mom may have been a kind of angel but she was human before that. the daughter of the woman who's blood created the original vampires when esther believed she could emulate the old ones. and it was the blood of my half-sister which broke his curse. my blood, his blood, maybe.. oh this might sound silly but i think maybe it called us to each other. we made a deal because my blood is.. useful to him, that's why he saved my life back in fell's church when-- nevermind that part." elena looks back toward the house where klaus stood outside then back to john wondering what klaus might think of her next words when she voices them aloud. "but.. there's more to it now." even if she wasn't exactly sure how to define it. "i have no intensions of abandoning klaus and i came here of my own free will. so i am-- just as invested in winning this war, i mean."