OPEN • take a whole or a part of me

[martyric]

CHARACTERS: elena gilbert + everyone and anyone!!
WHERE: utilities hangar / kitchen / beyond
WHEN: vague handflapping all the time
SUMMARY: come witness elena as she performs such remarkable feats as terribly attempting her own first aid, accidentally freezing her lunch, and other such tragic adventures | symbiote abilities & permissions for reference, closed and open options
WARNINGS: ehhhh probably nothing / mentions of vamp biting if that's a thing that troubles people???


( i ) TAKE A BITE OF MY HEART TONIGHT ( closed | sam )

( the thing is, she's not going to complain to Damon.

partly this is because of stubbornness, of course. there had been an insinuation that she couldn't handle this and there's nothing that can get Elena's hackles raised quite like that. it's not just her pride though, thankfully. regardless of her complicated feelings surrounding the man (vampire, whatever) she does genuinely believe that he has no vested interest in hurting her. if she comes whining and huffing about the bite wounds that are par for the course of being bitten, it's only a matter of time before he comes to the conclusion that she's not cut out for this. potentially leading to problems with feeding, potentially leading to random innocents being attacked, et cetera et cetera et cetera. so she's not just being obnoxious when she refuses to see Damon about the problem - she's being obnoxious with the good of the hive at heart or something.

the problem in question is her wrist. the bleeding had stemmed quite easily when bitten earlier, but clearly her movements or a knock or something has opened it up again. the wound is nothing dramatic or life threatening, of course. given enough time it would probably close up again of its own accord, but honestly Elena doesn't much feel like drip dripping her way around the station until then, and her clothing choices are far too limited to dedicate a shirt to stemming the flow. besides, there has to be a first aid kit around here somewhere, right?

after some consideration the utilities department seems like the best bet, and Elena is so thankful that she'd spent the first few days in the station painstakingly sticking her nose into every nook and cranny. it's not exactly easy to find, she's still fresh off the bot and navigating this place is still painful at best, but she manages it eventually. she's none too subtle when she starts digging through any and every box, shelf, drawer or cabinet she can find, but she's coming up incredibly empty handed.

if the behaviour seems in any way shady before, it becomes so much worse once she's caught in the act. although she doesn't exactly know if what she's doing is against any kind of unspoken rule, she still quickly slaps a hand over the two puncture wounds on her wrist and fakes a bright, totally innocent smile. even without a mental link, it's not exactly hard to see that Elena is hiding something. she's normally better at subterfuge than this, honestly. )

Hey- oh- I'm- ( she hasn't actually thought of an excuse to be rooting through what appears to be quite specialised equipment and it shows, but she's not a total idiot so it only lasts a moment. ) I was just looking around, I still don't really know where anything is. I thought I was heading to the kitchen...

( playing the newbie card, nailed it. )

( ii ) I'VE NEVER BEEN ANYWHERE AS COLD AS YOU ( closed | lexa & shiro )

( when she's not sneaking around trying to treat entirely non-dramatic wounds in overly dramatic fashions, Elena can be found in a number of places regularly. one of them is actually the kitchen - there's nothing that can make a person feel at home quite like sipping some imitation of a coffee, after all. this is her current goal, and she's messing around with various settings on things to get it as piping hot as she'd like. so long as nothing explodes there's no harm done, right?

sort of.

Elena hasn't actually come across the whole symbiote ability issue yet. it's been a whirlwind since her arrival, and the mental link has taken more than enough of her energy and focus, anything else that might have changed in her mind has gone unnoticed up until now. problem is, it's kind of hard to ignore an ability when it just sort of...happens.

the can of coffee between her hands is hot, maybe not as hot as she'd like it but there's definitely steam involved, and it's not enough to scald her hands but it's definitely uncomfortable. but strangely, her hands start getting hotter. and hotter, and hotter, and she looks down at the drink in her hands to see the surface starting to crystallise. with ice.

the container gets dropped onto the nearest flat surface abruptly, and Elena stares at her hands like they've just grown heads. they're still hot to touch, uncomfortably so, and she can't help but express her complete and utter confusion to the room at large. )

What the hell was that?

( which to an innocent bystander might well just look like Elena is incredibly distressed by iced coffee, but y'know. she's not much thinking about clarity right now. )

( iii ) PUT YOUR PINKY RINGS UP TO THE MOON ( open )

( when she's not being horrified by powers or griping about war wounds, Elena quite likes to spend time in the rec room. it's the closest to feeling normal that she's managed to find here, and that's quite appealing on a space station, honestly. most of the time she can be found fussing with cards or flicking through the books left lying around in the library, but today she's come across a journal.

it feels like it's been years since she wrote in her own.

if she knew how to find her own she of course would have, but there doesn't seem to be a request system around here. and if she hadn't found some kind of pen lying around she definitely wouldn't have considered the thought. it worked out too well though, a half-empty journal and pen practically falling into her lap all in the same day?

in a display of her classic remarkable sneaking skills, Elena glances around a few times before she opens the book to a blank page and smooths it out. there's more glancing when she touches the pen to paper, but since she's apparently satisfied that no one is watching her semi-shady documentation project, she starts writing:

Dear diary,...

no one ever said that Elena was original. )

( iiii ) WE'LL ALL FLOAT ON ANYWAY( open )

( a generic misc. option for anyone who has a specific idea in mind! feel free to buzz me via PM/plurk @ sharknado if you want a special tailored starter, otherwise anyone is welcome to run into elena around and about the station because quite frankly she is a nosy busybody sometimes. party hard, brethren. )

Comments

[martyric]

Didn't you have anything better to do for a hundred years than read comic books?

( she's too cool for accurate superhero references, damon!

and she's trying to focus, but it's weird holding damon's hands like this. admittedly on the scale of "weird things" that are currently happening in her life, holding damon's hand shouldn't even be a factor, but honestly it might even rank somewhere above 'all of the journals dramatically stop with no warning'. somehow, it feels stranger than offering up a vein to him.

no wonder it's hard to focus. )

Oh my god. ( she opens her eyes just so that she can shove his arms back at him - but elena doesn't let go of his hands, keeps her grip tight, and before she has time to close her eyes again it works. like a switch has been flicked she can suddenly feel her palms heating up, and the colour slowly fading from the skin just surrounding the points where their hands meet, and all she's got in her is to repeat: ) Oh my god.

( it freaks her out a little, enough that she tugs her hands back towards her to free them from damon's grip, but even so she can't help but be a little fascinated by it as well. this is her. she can do this. )

[blooded]

Why, Ms. Gilbert, comics are a classic American pastime.

( one that damon never paid much attention to, granted, but he knows enough to know which characters are marvel and which are dc. ...some of them, anyway. the ones that have been in movies.

he laughs when she pushes him backward, but the laugh is cut off sharply in the middle as his hands begin to chill. the sudden loss of heat is surprising, bordering on painful, but he doesn't tug his hands away until she does. hands newly free, he flexes his fingers, trying to encourage them to heat back up. it only takes him a moment to decide that they need to keep doing this — elena can't learn control until she knows how far is too far, and knows what it feels like to take too much. it's a principle he applies mostly to baby vampires, but damon's sure it applies here too.

before they go again, though, he wants to check in on her. he ducks his head to catch her eyes, still absent-mindedly flexing his fingers to warm them up. )

Hey. You okay?

[martyric]

( it doesn't scare elena the way it did the first time, but there's something notably different about sucking the heat out of something alive. out of a person. she isn't prepared for the reality to set in so painfully that she can do real damage like this. arriving here has changed her fundamentally, on a physiological level. she has to wonder how much of that change will effect her.

more shockingly, there's a part of it that already seems alluring. the odds are quickly stacking up against her as people close to her are revealed as vampires, as she becomes part of a hivemind that already seem to have so many advantages over her. there are other new arrivals - damon was one of them, after all - but it certainly feels like elena might be the weak link. this evens the odds. )

Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Feel this. ( she turns her hand over, pressing the back of her hand to the inside of his wrist. she's running hot, unnaturally hot. it's not feverish, more like the after effects of a slap, but it's still definitely there. ) Weird, right?

[blooded]

( if stefan was here, he might try to tell elena that she's not a weak link. he might tell her that her humanity isn't something she should resent, it's a gift. she's fine the way she is, more than fine, and he won't let anything happen to her.

damon is not his brother. elena's lack of supernatural ability has meant she's helpless in more situations than any of them would like, and that she has something now is of incredible relief to him. it'll take a while before she can use this in a fight of any kind, but she's not going to be a damsel for much longer. not that she ever really was — in demeanor anyway — but this will just cement it.

the heat of her hand on his wrist makes him raise his eyebrow, and he presses his palm over it to feel it more. )

Freaky, ( he agrees, before moving his hands to grasp her forearms. his hands are still almost uncomfortably cold, but the chill didn't spread up his arms. ) Do it again.

[martyric]

( she’s not expecting to go in for another round so soon, and elena frowns down at the hands on her forearms. the heat in her hands is localised in the same way the cold is in his, a bizarre kind of contrast between the temperatures in their skin, and her own movements are much slower when she finally puts her hands on his arms in a similar motion. )

Already?

( it’s not that she’s worried about hurting damon so much as doing irreparable damage. they don’t know how his regenerateve abilities might have changed - elena is different on a fundamental level thanks to the symbiote, is there much to suggest that damon isn’t the same?

but she thinks at least that she can tell what might be controlling the ability now. it’s not as simple as just willing it to be done and it is done, but she at least recognises the feeling that she had while the heat had been drawing out of his hands just before. that’s got to be the first step in controlling things, right? )

Doesn’t it hurt?

( maybe she is a little worried about hurting him. )

[blooded]

( he should be used to her concern for him. in a way, he is — he knows that she worries about everyone she cares about, kind of incessantly, and she did even at the start. elena gilbert is a worrier, that's just the way she is. when she cares about someone —

but there's the rub. when she cares about someone.

the elena he's used to cared about him, so of course she worried. whether she wanted him to be or not, he was an important part of her life, a friend, and she didn't want him to be hurt. for the elena here, that couldn't be further from the truth. she barely liked him until four days ago — he's not even really sure she likes him now. believes him, yes. he knows she believes he's telling her the truth, and that she trusts that he won't hurt her. that she lets him feed on her is evidence enough of that. but whether or not she actually likes him... that he hasn't been sure of.

but she only worries about the people she cares about.

for a moment, he just looks at her, the corners of his lips curled up. to call attention to it would make her self-conscious, but he wants to bask in this for just a second. he'd thought he'd be in the dog house for way, way longer. )

Not yet. It's uncomfortable. If it starts to hurt I won't give you a chance to stop, I'll be halfway across the room. Don't worry about it.

[martyric]

( does she like damon?

it's a hard question to answer, one that she's decidedly not thinking about any time soon. it's nothing personal-- except actually it is, it's entirely personal and everything to do with elena reevaluating everything she'd ever held true. damon was a bad person - except he wasn't. stefan was trustworthy - except he wasn't. elena couldn't possibly forgive murderers - except apparently she did.

it's easier to think of it purely as trust, that she can rationalise at least. elena can see from the evidence presented that damon won't hurt her, she's seen even just in the restraint he holds when he feeds from her that he'd destroy himself before he went too far. she knows that she's safe with him. but does she like his company?

she grabs his hands again, harder this time, and frowns.

that's a problem for later. )

Fine, ( she steels her jaw slightly, letting out a careful exhale before she squares her shoulders. elena still doesn't really know what it is that sets off this ability of hers, but focus certainly seems to be a key at least. ) just don't yell at me if it gets too bad.

( It comes when she tightens her grip, that same feeling like she's physically drawing something out of him, and already elena's hands are starting to feel like they're heating up. )

[blooded]

( this time, they're both prepared for it. elena's grip tightens, and slowly warmth begins to seep from his skin. it's a strange feeling, now that he can pay attention to it, dissect it — he can feel the heat being drawn from him and into her. it's uncomfortable, but not painful, exactly... not yet, anyway.

he lets it continue longer this time, letting her draw more and more heat from him, waiting to see if there's a natural cutoff to her ability or if she can just... keep going. eventually, he has to pull away, tugging his arms from her grip and taking a decisive step back. his arms are a pale, dull blue all the way up to the elbow, and this time the cold actually does hurt a little. not enough that he's worried — he'll heal, no matter what damage she'd done — but enough that he keeps flexing his hands and rubbing at his wrists. )

Freaky, ( he repeats, with feeling — though without judgment. she's not freaky, the feeling is. ) Are you okay?