#yesterday was awful though and it might be interesting to see inconvenience after inconvenience wearing on yohan's patience | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

asterinjapan · 5 years

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A whole Latte (window) shopping

Good evening from a rainy Tokyo! And no apologies for that awful pun in the title, haha.

Yeah, so uhm, two new tropical storms have formed… One has already dwindled down to a low pressure system, bringing in a ton of rain tonight into tomorrow over areas that have already had plenty of rani last week. The second is a typhoon right now and will probably tun into a low pressure area as well when it approaches late this week. The already battered parts of Japan really can’t catch a break, yikes.

For me, it’s just a mild inconvenience. Tokyo will get rain, and pretty much all my side trips are falling through as they’re in dangerous areas due to risk of landslides and what not, but I can definitely keep myself otherwise entertained. I can only hope that these storms blow over without too much additional damage.

Anyway! I finally managed to wear myself out today, haha, and that despite just sticking to the city I’m staying in. Climbing mountains is easy, but (window) shopping does me in!

Follow me below for my report of today, consisting of Shibuya revisited, hopping over to Harajuku and Akihabara and ending with dinner with a certain bright yellow mascot. Pictures will be up tomorrow morning!

First things first, I had a train ticket to secure for a trip that will happen no matter what: the ride to the airport on the 28th. The Narita Express doesn’t often go through Ikebukuro, but it does at a convenient time for me for once on the 28th, so I wanted to get a seat on that train, haha. Sure, I have to get up early, but I can throw my luggage into the luggage corner, take a seat, and only get up once I’m at the airport. I’ve nearly always had to transfer after the Yamanote line, which is not a lot of fun when you have heavy bags with you. So! I made my way to the JR East travel office, since the normal ticket office apparently can’t reserve seats on the Narita Express for you, and secured my seat. I also asked about trains further out, and got confirmed what I was already suspecting: dangerous, cancelled lines, etcetera. Well, I’m not gonna risk it. Too bad about my JR pass, but it’s given me my free seat in the Narita Express, and the shorter trips throughout Tokyo secretly add up a lot too if you don’t have a free pass. It has long since paid itself off!

Well, I had gotten a relatively early start today, so I went to Shibuya again at a calm pace. It was only a little after ten, so the crossing was pretty empty compared to yesterday, haha. I first hopped over to the Disney store to secure my ticket for Disneyland. Hey, it’s tradition by now! There was only one person in front of me instead of a long line (going on a Monday morning really helps), so that was quickly arranged. After some shop browsing, I traced my way to my Miyamasu Mitake shrine (I’m getting possessive over it by now, haha). And behold, the shop was open! I could finally hand in my omamori, protective charm, which I’d gotten almost 2 years ago (you’re supposed to hand it back in after a year). I immediately got a new one, of course. Still white, because I think the other ones were more specific, and ‘general luck’ has worked fine so far I’d say!

I had a light and early lunch at a nearby café and then went back to the station to go one stop further on the Yamanote line: Harajuku. I usually go to the fancy Omotesando street or the Meiji shrine, but today, I went into Takeshita street. That’s what you think of when you hear Harajuku, I guess, haha, sinc this street is lined with a ton of fashion stores and all kinds of food. There’s one stall that’s gotten pretty well known for its huge rainbow colored candy floss, which are indeed a sight to behold (but I held off for now, I needed to be hungry for dinner). My main mission here was finding a coat, but I got immensely sidetracked by super cute clothing everywhere. No coats that fit my criteria, but I sure had fun window shopping and I’m seriously considering a couple of outfits. Not the very fancy frilly gorgeous dresses, though. I mean, they are amazingly gorgeous and not as outrageously expensive as you might think (not cheap by all means, but I’ve seen more expensive clothes in my little home town) but still… I don’t think I’d dare to wear them? Also, those would definitely mean I have to buy a second suitcase, haha.

Once I went back and forth through Takeshita street, I went back to the station for my next stop on the Yamanote line: Akihabara station, also known as nerd central I guess, haha. Truth is, in earlier years I didn’t really like Akihabara. As it turns out, it really depends on what shops you visit. I know a couple now that mostly cater towards my interests, but there are also a lot of shops here that cater to a male audience, if you catch my drift. But now, I had a lot of fun window shopping and making a mental list of what’s available. I accidentally bought a couple of figurines last year and that’s definitely a trap, now I keep looking, haha.

It was cooling down, so I fled into the station for my final stop for today: Tokyo station. I was going to head to the café I had my reservation for, but it was like an hour and a half in advance, so I first strolled through the underground Tokyo Station city. There is a street called character street which has a lot of specialized merchandise stores, and I always struggle to find it, but today I just – walked right into it as I was looking for my exit for the café, haha. This time, I ended up buying a couple of clearfiles, and then I slowly made my way to the Yaesu North exit.

A short walk later, I was at my destination: the Pokémon DX store with adjacent Pokémon café! You can only get into the café for a meal if you have reservations. I found out in the nick of time that you only need a credit card if you want to pre-order exclusive goods, so I managed to make a reservation for today a week or so before I hopped onto my plane. I was still too early, so I did a lot of browsing in this Pokémon store. I’ve visited quite some Pokémon stores by now, but this one takes the cake. It’s roomy, big, interactive, and has a ton of products I haven’t seen anywhere else yet. Do you want a Pokémon plushie? You can literally get one for every single Pokémon from the first 2 generations, so like – 251. I was strong and steered clear of plushies today, but I did have a wishlist now, haha. There is also a long wall that shows the development of the games throughout the years, that was so fun and nostalgic to watch!

At long last, I got to enter the café! I was seated at the long table in the center, right next to the statue of Pikachu, and got to order my dishes through the tablet on table, which had multiple language options. Of course, I opted for the limited time Pikachu Halloween plate, and I also got a latte with Pokémon art on it. You can pick from the first 251 Pokémon, but I went with Eevee. I was going to get an Eevee mug separately, because I thought you could only order it with the hot cocoa, but it turns out you can get it with the latte too if you have the Eevee art, haha. So I got a receipt for my order plus mug and settled in to eat. But there was a surprise: Chef Pikachu came out to meet everyone! Japan sure loves its mascot characters, so you bet they have tons of Pikachu suit characters. (Heck, there’s a whole parade of them in Yokohama in summer.) Pikachu made his rounds to shake hands with everyone and seemed rather taken by the small Pikachu I had brought with me and remembered to put on my shoulder in the nick of time, haha.

The plate was actually pretty good! I mean, not haute cuisine, and you can definitely get more extravagant meals for this price elsewhere, but hey, will it be shaped like Pikachu with a witch hat? I think not. Don’t go to character cafés if you want quality food, but do go if you want to take in the atmosphere and enjoy the way the food looks. Japan is all about presentation.

I had a good time here, although I was too full for dessert, so I ordered a float drink instead inspired by the legendary bird Pokémon Articuno. It was a fizzy drink that was a tad too sweet for my taste, but hey, it came with a free coaster! For every drink, you get a coaster. You can pick a random card on a tablet, and that card determines which coaster you get. Since it’s Halloween season, you could also pick the official Halloween 2019 Pikachu coaster, which I had done for the latte. For the random pick, I got Espeon! Nice.

You can spend at most 90 minutes at the café before your time is up, so after my last photos, I made my way to the register to pay for my food, a set of clear files, and of course my new Eevee mug, which they promptly wrapped up nicely for me, so I can’t show a picture of it yet, haha. I then wandered into the store to grab some goods I had gotten my eye on (not all for me! I do souvenirs for others too!), and finally made it out again. Sadly, it had started to drizzle, so I walked to the station fast and made way to Ikebukuro.

So now here I am! Tomorrow is a holiday since it’s the enthronement of the Emperor, but they postponed the procession until November due to typhoon Hagibis (and I bet they don’t regret that decision now, what with the current weather). It doesn’t sound like there’s a lot to see for us mere mortals. Although I suppose this means I’m physically closer to my country’s king and queen than I’ve ever consciously been back home, as they’re attending the ceremony tomorrow, haha. Ah well.

With the weather forecast, I think I’ll go over to Ueno Park to visit the National Museum of Nature and Science, since I’ve been throwing that one longing looks since 2010, but never let myself visit before. And after that, I’ll see – maybe some karaoke? I’ll hold off on more shopping for now as Wednesday will be busy (Disney!), and then I’ll just see what the weather will do and what my safe options are, because I’m not gonna take unnecessary risks.

It’s getting late here, so I’ll upload the pictures tomorrow morning. Good night for now!

#japan 2019 #report #report: japan 2019

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peopleandrhythm · 7 years

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Episode Eight: So Damn Caught in the Middle

Hayley stretches, muscles pulling long, as the midmorning sun heats up the room through the open balcony doors. She’s more or less bare to the world, the remnants of bedsheets little cover after all these years. Blinking sleepily, she curves her body to the side, taking in the sight of her equally naked companion with a pleased half-smile. His breath comes long and slow, but Hayley’s no fool. “Are you awake?”

Barely concealing his mischievous smirk, Elijah shakes his head. Hayley playfully shoves his shoulder. He creaks one eye open. “So cruel, and yet so lovely, even this early.” His smirk is no longer hidden.

“Early? It’s…” She extends her body over Elijah’s, ignoring his groans as she roots around blindly for her jeans. She manages to dig her phone out of her pocket and returns to her side of the bed. Elijah’s hand follows her, resting on the smooth expanse of her hip. She checks the time. “Nearly ten,” she finally finishes. “I didn’t even know you were capable of sleeping this late.”

“Why on earth—” He takes one of her hands, brings her fingers to his lips. “—would I wish to leave this bed? I have thought of being nowhere else in fifteen years.”

Hayley’s eyes roll back as the hand on her hip moves lower. “God,” she breathes. “Fifteen years. Felt like a lifetime—”

Elijah kisses her, a hard, passionate kiss that curls her toes. “I will not allow you to know that kind of pain again,” he promises, voice rasped. Hayley brushes some hair from his eyes, a small, melancholic smile on her face. “I will not leave you, even if that means…” The hand trails lightly up her back, eliciting a breathy laugh. “…we never leave this bed again.”

Hayley snorts and tips her head forward to rest against Elijah’s chest for a moment. Then she pushes away, swinging her legs onto the cold floor. “Would that I could,” she says, swatting away his hand as it chases after her. “But I should probably go check on my daughter and her girlfriend, make sure they’re not still being lazy in bed like some people.” She shoots Elijah an impish look as she grabs his abandoned shirt from the floor and begins to button it.

“A thief now, are we?” In a flash, Elijah is kneeling on the edge of the bed, tugging Hayley closer by her hips.

She twists easily out of his grasp, swooping her jeans up from the floor again. As she climbs into them, she says, “Better find something else to wear, I guess.” She heads for the door. “This is mine now.”

As she turns into the hallway, she hears from behind her, “Maybe I’ll just wear yours.” Her resulting laugh is bright and airy, following her as she makes her way to the girls’ bedroom.

The door is just slightly ajar, so she pushes it open softly. “Hope, River.” When she steps inside, she’s surprised to find the bed empty. “Hope?” No response. “River?” Silence. She closes her eyes and uses her enhanced hearing to listen for any sign of the girls in the compound. Nothing. “Hope!” Her voice is louder now. She’s just about to leave, to see if maybe they’ve gone into the tunnels, when something catches her eye. There’s a photograph in the middle of the bed. She picks it up, and all her breath leaves her body. “Klaus,” she tries to call, but her voice is little more than a whisper. Still staring at the photo, she swallows thickly and shouts, “Klaus! Elijah!”

The latter appears suddenly beside her, Klaus just moments behind. “What is the matter?” Klaus asks, and instead of answering, Hayley lifts up the photograph. The three of them stare in horror at the sight of River, tied up and terrified, and at the words written below: Come alone.

“Where is Hope?” Klaus asks, voice deadly quiet.

“She’s not here,” Hayley whispers.

Louder, Klaus’s voice breaks as he demands, “Where is she?”

“I think the better question,” Elijah says, gently taking the photo from Hayley, “is where is River?”

The sun glints off of the iron gates in front of her. Lafayette Cemetery, she reads, looking down at the Polaroid in her hand, an image of the very place she stands before. Taking a deep breath, and knowing full well this is a terrible decision, Hope enters the cemetery. Her first step over the threshold, she feels a small surge of mystical energy flow through her, as if she were walking through a waterfall. She follows the twisting pathways around mausoleums and monuments, and even though her mind is consumed by worry for her girlfriend, she can’t help but stare in awe at the grandeur of the cemetery.

After a few minutes, she makes a turn and finds herself facing some kind of altar, a long, stone structure raised on a dais in front of yet another mausoleum. And slumped against its base—

“River!” Hope dashes forward, but comes to an abrupt stop when she slams against an invisible wall. She looks down to see a line of salt blocking her path.

“Just a little boundary spell.” Hope’s head whips up to see a woman with light brown skin and piercing green eyes standing just behind River. “Don’t worry, I have no interest in harming your little pet.”

“Then how about you let her go and we can talk?”

The woman makes a face as if pretending to weigh her options. “Tempting offer, but I think I’d rather have her here as leverage over you, Hope Mikaelson.”

Hope’s eyes narrow. “Doesn’t seem very fair that you know who I am but I have no idea who the hell you are.”

“Fair enough. My name is Theo LeRoy. I represent a large faction of New Orleans witches who are seeking to…reaffirm our status in this city.”

“Okay? And what does that have to do with me?”

“Well that’s what this little meeting is about,” Theo says, voice light and inviting. “I want to talk to you about your…connection to this city, and so I took your werewolf and I pumped her full of wolfsbane.” She nudges River with the toe of her boot, and the girl slides onto the hard stone of the dais, barely conscious. Hope stiffens, her breath coming shallow. “So, now that I have your attention, and your girlfriend…” The smile slides off of Theo’s face. “Do exactly as I say and no one has to die.”

The family gathers around the grand staircase, passing around the photo of River. “Does anyone recognize the location?” Freya asks as she hands it off to her sister.

“It could be anywhere in the Quarter,” Klaus says, pacing, “or even outside of it. We need to do a locator spell, now.”

Freya nods. “I’ll gather what supplies I can, but I’m going to be limited.”

“How did they get in here?” Hayley’s sitting on the bottom step of the staircase, staring at nothing. “Hope put a boundary spell on this place. How did they get in to take River?”

Freya exchanges a look with Elijah, who’s standing close to Hayley. She explains, “Hope just barely kept the spell up when the witches attacked yesterday, and that was when she was awake and concentrating. If they came back in the night, while her defenses were down…” She trails off. She looks to Klaus, who gives her a nod, and then she disappears into a side room, off to find the means to complete a locator spell.

Elijah asks, “What do we do if we cannot find her with magic?”

“Then we dismantle this city brick by brick until she is returned to us,” Klaus spits.

“And how long before Marcel Gerard shows up at our door to put an end to us all?” Kol is leaning up against a pillar, looking bored.

“He’s right, Nik,” Rebekah says. “If we go on a rampage we’ll have to deal with both Marcel and those same witches who want us gone. We may not find her in time.”

“Then what would you have me do?!” Klaus roars. “Sit here and hope she returns?”

Elijah cautions, “Be smart about this, brother—”

“I’m going to go to Marcel.” Everyone falls silent. Hayley stands up. “I’m going to ask him for his help.”

“Absolutely not,” Elijah says at the same time that Klaus warns, “Out of the question.”

Hayley looks at them both like they’re crazy. “Our little girl is missing, her girlfriend taken hostage in some kind of trap for her. If you think I’m not going to go the most powerful person in the city for help—”

“And what if he’s the one behind this all?”

Rebekah’s eyes shoot daggers at Kol. “Marcel would never hurt a child.”

Hayley starts walking toward the courtyard. “I’m going to Marcel, and Rebekah’s coming with me.”

Klaus steps in front of her to block her path. “I’ll go.”

“We don’t have time for this, Klaus! Rebekah and I are the only ones he won’t kill on sight.” She starts pointing to the siblings. “Elijah ripped his heart out, Kol killed Davina, Freya condemned her to a hell with the ancestors, and you…well, you’re you. He won’t kill me and he certainly won’t kill Rebekah.” She takes a deep breath. “You stay with Freya. Do the spell. If that doesn’t work…” She pushes past Klaus. “…tear this city apart.”

Theo approaches Hope with long, confident strides. “What do you know of your connection to New Orleans, Hope Mikaelson?”

Hope gives a little shrug. “I was born here. My mother was born here. My father and his siblings helped establish this city, like, a million years ago. And when we ran, this was the one place we could never come back to.”

“Until now.”

“Yeah, until now. So what?”

“So your timing is a little…inconvenient.” Theo stops about a foot away from Hope, the salt line between them. “The witches of New Orleans have been…I guess you could say scheming, for about five years now. We have a plan in place to reestablish our race as the dominant power in New Orleans. And your presence here…well, I’m not interested in having any unpredictable factors running around and messing up years of hard work.”

Hope’s face betrays a mixture of confusion and frustration. “I don’t give a shit about whatever master plan for world domination you guys have been cooking for howeverlong. I don’t give a shit about your politics. We came here to save my family and get out, and what you do after that is entirely up to you. Just leave us out of it.”

“Would that I could,” Theo laments. “But now that I have you, I want to put to bed any threat you might pose, once and for all.”

“What’re you going to do, kill me?”

Theo laughs. “God no. The last thing we need is the wrath of the recently-awakened Mikaelson clan raining down upon us. No, nothing so morbid.”

“Then what?”

“Simple.” Theo smiles sinisterly. “I want you to renounce your connection to the ancestors of New Orleans.��

Marcel’s just sliding on his jacket when the doors to his penthouse burst open. He turns to see who the intruder is, but there’s no one there. He sighs. “I don’t have time for this.”

“You’re going to have to make time.”

Rolling his eyes, he twists his head to see Rebekah leaning against the windows. He lets out a small, huffed laugh, and half a second a later has Rebekah pinned by the throat. “I told Klaus to get all of you out of town,” he snarls.

Then he’s skidding backward, having been shoved away from Rebekah by a glowering Hayley. “We need your help.”

“Like hell—”

“Hope’s missing.”

There’s a pregnant pause. “What do you mean she’s missing?”

Hayley whips the photo of River like a Frisbee to Marcel, who deftly snatches it out of the air. “That’s her girlfriend. She was kidnapped sometime in the middle of the night and used as bait to draw Hope out. We don’t know who has them or what they want.”

“Why the hell did you bring her girlfriend here?”

Rebekah’s eyes narrow in disbelief. “We didn’t bring her here, you wanker, she came of her own volition. And that’s hardly the point.”

“Marcel.” Hayley steps forward, hands reaching out in supplication. “They’re seventeen. They’re kids. They didn’t—they didn’t ask for this, Hope didn’t ask for a family that would put her in danger.”

Marcel licks his lips. “Yeah well maybe if you hadn’t come back here in the first place, this never would have happened.”

“I made my daughter a promise, and I will not apologize for keeping it.” She rips the photo from Marcel’s hand. “Are you going to help us or not?”

Marcel’s eyes dart between the two women. His loathing for the Mikaelson family boils hot just beneath his skin, but these are kids, girls barely older than Davina had been when she was first dragged into the dangerous mess that is New Orleans. He sighs again, and gently takes the picture back from Hayley. “I’ll help, if only to get you out of my city.” He studies the photo. “Let me make a few calls.”

Freya’s hands move slowly over a map of New Orleans, Klaus’s blood gleaming red in the sunlight. Her eyes are screwed tight as she feels for any trace of her niece’s presence in the Quarter—but the blood remains stagnant, a threatening lump on the paper.

Klaus prowls around the room. “How have you not found her yet?”

“Brother,” Elijah begins, but Freya cuts him off. “She’s being cloaked. I can tell she’s here, within the city, but…” She slouches, eyes opening wearily. “I can’t pin down a location.”

Klaus roars, punching a hole into the brick of the compound wall. Elijah pinches the bridge of his nose. “What is our next move, Freya?”

With half a shrug, she says, “I suppose it’s up to Marcel to—” She cuts herself off, eyes widening with a sudden idea. “The venom.”

“What venom?” Kol asks, entering the room with a blood bag in hand.

Freya stands. “Elijah, Kol, River’s venom was used in the cure for your bites. The salve was applied directly to your open wounds, and it’s been less than twenty-four hours—I’m willing to bet that venom is still in your systems.”

“You want to do a locator spell on River,” Elijah clarifies.

“It may not work,” Freya hedges. “They may have her cloaked, too. But if whoever’s doing the cloaking didn’t think we’d have the means to track her…”

“They might not have wasted the energy trying to hide her,” Klaus finishes. Freya nods. “Do it.”

Elijah tears open the side of his hand with his teeth and lets his blood spill over the map, a macabre rainstorm of red.

“What?”

Theo sighs. “I want you to revoke any claim you have to the power granted to us by our ancestors.”

Hope throws her hands up. “Fine! I revoke it! I renounce the stupid ancestors! Will you let River go now?”

Rolling her eyes, Theo says, “It’s not so simple, Hope. There’s a process to these things. And don’t you want to know what you’ll be giving up?”

“A legacy of psychos like you?”

“Cute. No. You’re luckier than most of us, Hope. Your power doesn’t derive directly from the consecration of your ancestors. Your power comes from a number of sources, making you quite the little Energizer Bunny.” She ends her sentence with a bitter laugh.

“So why are you so concerned about my connection to these ancestors?” Hope asks.

“Because even though your power doesn’t solely trace back to them, you are connected to them. Your grandmother, the witch Esther, was consecrated among our people. Therefore, you have a direct link to their power. I want that link severed.”

“Again, wh—”

“Our own link to the ancestors was severed fifteen years ago, when our regent, Vincent Griffith, blew it up. Literally.” She laughs humorlessly. “For fifteen years we have been scraping by on what little power we can gather on our own. But we’re seeking to change that.”

“How?”

“That’s none of your concern,” Theo snaps. “But know this: when our power is restored, you will have no part of it.”

“Am I really that much of a threat to you?” Hope asks in disbelief. “If anything, I’d probably want to help the witches of New Orleans since, you know, I am one.”

“We don’t trust you,” Theo says bluntly. “You may be a witch, but you are a Mikaelson, too. And the Mikaelsons have brought nothing but chaos and destruction to this city since they first washed up on its shores. We don’t want your help. We want you gone.”

Hope nods to River. “So this is what you’re offering? I renounce this connection, and you let her go free?”

“Seems simple, doesn’t it?”

Hope stares at the body of her girlfriend, barely moving with each breath. Finally she says quietly, “I’ll do it.”

Theo’s answering grin is wicked. “Excellent!” She lifts a hand to blast a gap into the salt line. “Let’s get started then.”

“Alright, thanks.” Marcel hangs up, presses the top of his phone against his lips as he spends a few moments processing what he’d just learned. Then he turns to face the others. “I think I may know who’s behind this.”

Hayley looks up from her own phone. “The witches.”

“How did you—”

She jiggles the device. “Freya just texted. They tracked River to the City of the Dead.”

Rebekah’s brow furrows. “What would the witches want with Hope?”

“There’s this Algiers witch, Theo, who had a dream or a vision or whatever about Hope, the night she and Vincent came to spring Klaus free.”

“And how do you know about the dreams of witches?” Rebekah asks, suspicious.

Marcel’s answering smile is forced. “Because she was in my bed at the time.”

Rebekah’s face freezes. Hayley shoots her a look. “Can we not do this now?” She turns back to Marcel. “I swear to god, if one more witch has a vision about my daughter—”

“She seemed to think that Hope being in New Orleans was a threat to the witches’ power. She didn’t go into detail, and I didn’t ask. I thought once Hope left she’d be gone for good, so it wouldn’t matter.”

“Yes, well, a plan to neutralize the threat that a teenage girl poses isn’t exactly pillow talk, is it?”

“Rebekah!” Hayley huffs out a sigh. “Well, they’ve got her now, and whatever they’re planning on doing, we’re going to stop them.” She marches for the door, but a strong hand on her arm jerks her backward.

“Don’t kill Theo.” Hayley opens her mouth to argue, but Marcel talks over her. “This isn’t about…listen, she’s well-respected among the covens. Vincent might be regent again, but that’s more political than anything else. If you want to keep the witches in check, killing one of their leaders is not the way to do it.”

“I’ll take that into consideration,” Hayley spits, before wrenching her arm free and disappearing into the entryway.

Hope is on her knees on the dais, her girlfriend crumpled on the ground mere feet away. Her forehead, arms, and chest are covered in markings she can’t understand, drawn on her skin by Theo’s finger dipped into some black paste. Candles cover nearly every horizontal surface in sight, and Theo stands behind the altar, arms raised. “Fen lyen ki, rejte timoun nan,” she chants, face tipped up toward the noon sun. “Fen lyen ki, rejte timoun nan. Fen lyen ki, rejte timoun nan.” She looks down at Hope and nods.

Hope takes a deep breath. “Ancestors of New Orleans, I renounce—”

“What the hell is this?”

Hope twists around abruptly to see Marcel Gerard striding up to the dais. Theo’s eyes narrow. “This doesn’t concern you, Marcel.”

Marcel gestures toward River. “Really. Seems to me like you’re breaking my number one rule: we don’t hurt kids.”

“She’ll be fine,” Theo grits. “Once this is over, both of them can go home.”

“The hell are you doing, Theo?” Marcel says, shaking his head. “If the witches were unhappy, why didn’t you come to me?”

“Because this isn’t about vampire bullies in the Quarter, Marcel! This is about power, who has it and who’s going to get it.”

“So you had to threaten a kid to get it? That’s who you are?”

Theo draws herself up tall. “What, you thought that because we slept together you knew me?” Marcel is silent. “Wake up, Marcel. This city is tearing itself apart, has been for years. The witches are looking to survive, and this?” She gestures to the interrupted ritual. “This is just the first step.”

“Yeah, well, it’s also the last.” Theo’s knocked back by a harsh blow, and when she gathers herself again, both of the girls are missing. Her head whips back and forth, eyes wide as she looks for them. “They’re gone, Theo, back where they belong. And you?” Suddenly, Marcel’s face is inches from her own, and there’s a loud clanging sound. She looks down to see shackles around her wrists. “You’re coming with me.”

Hope and River sit side-by-side on a shredded couch inside the compound. River’s leaning heavily into Hope’s side, and Hope continuously brings water to her lips, trying to flush the wolfsbane out of her system. Hayley paces in front of them, chewing on her nails. “What the hell were you thinking?” she demands. “Either one of you could have died with those witches.”

“What was I supposed to do, Mom?” Hope snaps. “They took her and told me to come alone. I sure as hell wasn’t going to risk anything.”

“We could have come up with a plan, Hope, instead of putting both of you in jeopardy. I taught you to be more responsible than this.”

“Yeah, well, you also taught me to take care of the people I love, so I guess this is your fault.”

Hayley’s nostrils flare, but Elijah puts a calming hand on her shoulder. “I think what your mother is trying to say,” he interjects kindly, “is that we were all very worried about you, and should you ever find yourself in a situation like this again, perhaps asking your family for help wouldn’t be entirely out of the question.”

Klaus stalks into the room, stopping right in front of his daughter before squatting down to look her in the eye. “What did they want?”

“Klaus!” Hayley scolds, but Klaus ignores her. “What did the witches want from you?”

Hope tips her head to the side so it’s resting atop River’s. “She wanted me to sever my link to the witches’ ancestors. She wanted me to give up access to their power.”

Klaus and Elijah exchange a long, significant look, before Elijah asks, “Did she explain why?”

“Apparently I’m some kind of threat. They don’t like the idea of a Mikaelson witch being juiced up on New Orleans power, especially when they actually get it back.”

Klaus’s brow wrinkles in confusion. “When they get it—” His eyes blow wide with realization. “They’re going to reestablish the connection with the ancestors.”

“Can that even be done?” Elijah asks. “Davina imploded that connection from the inside.”

“It can be done,” Freya says, walking into the room. “But the sacrifice they would need to do it…no Harvest ritual would engender enough power. The sacrifice would have to be enormous.”

“Like a miracle werewolf-vampire-witch child?” Hayley asks quietly.

Everyone’s eyes turn slowly to Hope, who stares back, wide-eyed and speechless.

The tunnels beneath New Orleans are vast and sprawling, connecting every important landmark and structure. Just below Marcel’s building, the tunnels open up into a nice little cavern, where, chained to a wall, Theo sits, glaring at the floor. Out of the corner of her eye, a rat, illuminated by the candles on a small ledge, scurries from shadow to shadow, making Theo’s skin crawl. Her wrists are already aching from their time in the shackles, cursed long ago to prevent their prisoner from performing magic. Even though she wants more than anything to rip herself free from the wall, she remains icily still, not giving her captor any satisfaction of seeing her squirm.

Marcel stands a few feet away, arms crossed. “Theo, Theo, Theo.” He slowly lowers himself into a crouch. A dangerous smile tugs at the corners of his mouth. “What am I going to do with you?”

At a glacial pace, Theo turns her face up to look at him, her expression unreadable. Once she’s locked eyes with him, a relaxed, sinister smile of her own breaks out across her face. “No Marcel,” she whispers, voice raspy. “The question is, what are we going to do with your bodies once we’ve killed you all?”

#originals #tvd #tvd fic #originals fic #the originals #people and rhythm #pr 1x08

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