ɛʆɛɳɑ giʆɓɛʀt (thediarist) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-11-21 13:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, elena gilbert, tyler lockwood |
Who: Tyler & Elena
Where: His place
What: Catching up
When: Friday
Status: Complete
Finding herself neck high in homework and somewhat unnerved by the dreams, Elena more than eagerly accepted Tyler’s invitation for a drink at his place. While the offer of the supposed ‘glamorous’ strip club where he formally worked was tempting, Elena opted for something less risque and distracting. Plus, there was nothing about plain Jane Elena Gilbert that screamed she felt anywhere near at home in such a place. Tonight, she just wanted to relax, drink, and catch up with a friend from high school. Though in dream high school, Elena and Tyler didn’t appear to be very close at all. Yes, they knew each other and well, she dated Matt, but otherwise there was no connection between them and it was sad. Considering that Tyler was every bit as much of a jerk as he had been in real high school, it wasn’t surprising, but still they had more interaction than what she’d experienced so far. She was hoping tonight to remedy that a little even if anything that happened here would not affect their dream selves at all.
Pulling up to his place, Elena put the car in park and switched off the ignition. Though it was a Friday night, like always, Elena opted for casual wear. With obvious natural beauty, she’d stuck to her normal routine of light make up and for dress, settled on skinny jeans, a pair of knee high boots, and a simple, somewhat tight blouse. In comparison, she figured her sister would have gone all out, but Elena would never be like Katherine in that respect or really any. She wasn’t much for showing off or being the center of attention like her sister was. Besides, this was just them hanging out and nothing crazy. She expected Ty to be in much the same state as herself.
Stepping out of the car, Elena clicked on the lock and headed for the door. She slipped inside and looked for Ty’s name on the list to ring the bell to let him know she was here. Spotting his name, she smiled and pressed the button briefly before letting go to wait for his response.
Tyler’d spent at least part of the night getting ready for Elena’s arrival. He’d moved his blood bags from his fridge into his freezer, hoping that there’d be no reason for Elena to go in there. Unlike when Kate had come to visit him, he actually had food in his fridge this time. Most of it was for when Blossom stayed with him, but at least it gave a better impression than having nothing but beer in his fridge.
His apartment was a decent size, and an open concept. The kitchen was more of a kitchenette with a centre island, and it merged right into his living room. A set of stairs led to an overhanging, loft style bedroom. When Tyler had first moved in, he’d envisioned filling the main floor with workout equipment, but there was no point now, since workout equipment was all but useless to him now. Instead, he had a loveseat and a couch, a coffee table that was currently holding a couple of Blossom’s biology textbooks, and a large, flatscreen TV.
Today he’d worn a navy muscle shirt, and a pair of black sweatshorts. He knew that it had been a long time since the last time he’d seen Elena, but it felt as though it had been less. After all, he’d spent the last year and a half dreaming of her. He purposefully made his way to the door at a more human speed, and smiled widely at Elena when he opened it. “Hey, Elena. Long time no see,” he said.
Elena had her suspicions about what was really happening in Mystic Falls, but it wasn’t like she believed any of them really. All the supernatural mumbo jumbo was just that...mumbo jumbo. It was impossible that any of those ‘things’ existed in the real world. Vampires, witches, werewolves, hybrids, and anything else along those lines were locked up in the pages of some cheesy teenager, supernatural love drama. It wasn’t for California or her friends and family. Needless to say, it was probably for the best Elena did not see the blood bags in Tyler’s fridge. It might have been a bit too much of a shock to her system despite her hunches. She wasn’t at the point where she believed in anything that fed on blood. For the time being, she was all about the facts and nothing happening here or in Mystic Falls involved facts or at least facts Elena deemed actual facts.
The door opened, pulling Elena from her thoughts, and she broke into a smile at the sign of his familiar, smiling face. “Hey, Ty,” she greeted in return, folding a piece of straight brown hair behind her ear. “Definitely has been a while, “ she added and stepped in to give him a brief hug. “How have you been?”
Tyler returned Elena’s brief hug, and led her into the apartment. “I’ve been good,” Tyler said. “Or, about as well as you can be in this place.” He knew that Elena had started dreaming, and he likewise knew that she probably wasn’t that far into them. Even still, she had to know by now that living in this county wasn’t exactly easy.
He went to the fridge and pulled out a couple of cold beers, popping off the caps with his thumbs. He handed one of the bottles to Elena. “What about you? You’ve started dreaming, right? Holding up okay?”
If it all hadn’t fallen in on Elena yet, the coming dreams were bound to solidify that fact quickly. This county was like no other in existence and even if Elena did not truly, fully believe in what the dreams told her, she did have sense enough to believe in that. Something was going on, but logically, Elena believed it was something that could be explained away with research and fact. A rational method somehow, some way could make all of these things make sense even if deep down, Elena felt otherwise. It was not a part that she liked to explore or think too much on, but Katherine’s warning did ring in her head from time to time. Even Tyler’s remarks about the necklace and how she should wear it were a bit alarming and strange. Everyone was rather cryptic about how much they knew about the dreams and Elena guessed it was because most of them didn’t want to tell her, but rather have her find out for herself.
“Yeah, I guess I can say the same,” Elena replied, taking the offered beer bottle and taking a small sip. As well as can be expected… she mentally said to herself. A lot of state of mind relied on what the dreams and real life brought her next. So far, one was saving her from the other’s effects, but Med school would get much more stressful than it was now and she was sadly certain the dreams would follow much the same routine. “Unfortunately, I have. It’s bad, but I feel like it is only going to get worse…” Elena trailed off and took a deeper, longer sip of beer. No wonder so many posts on the network made people seem like alcoholics.
“Yeah,” Tyler said. “They will.” The dreams had been tough on Tyler, but at least he didn’t seem to spend most of his time running away from maniacs who were obsessed with doppleganger blood. He made his way over to his couch, and sat down. “Listen, Elena, I don’t know how much other people have told you, but you’re in my dreams and I’m sure you’ve seen me in yours too. Some people apparently share dream worlds, and the same things happen in all our dreams. So if you ever need someone to talk to about it, I’ll get it.
Having known Tyler for as long as she had and in the dreams, she knew he was not lying to her about the dreams. Plus, the others had already told her they were only going to get so much worse. It was far from the most comforting thing Elena needed to hear at this point, but like in the dreams, she did not like to be lied to. She always wanted the truth regardless of how bad it actually was. People believed she could not handle it, but that was not true. Yes, Elena felt things deeper, stronger than most people emotionally, especially when it came to the people she loved. It had always been her greatest gift and most horrible, paralyzing curse, yet she was strong and stubborn. She refused to believe there was something she couldn’t handle even if past and dream experience could and would show her otherwise.
When Tyler sat down beside her on the couch, Elena attempted a smile, but it lacked a lot of that powerful punch that most Elena Gilbert grins gave. Despite what she wanted to believe, she knew she could be more vulnerable than she liked to let others see. This was one of those moments and unfortunately, this trait extended itself amongst her friends too. “Ty…” Elena trailed off. “I have seen you. You’re right,” Elena admitted quietly. “I’ve seen everyone.” The offer of being there for her to talk to did strengthen that smile though and she nodded. “Thank you, Ty. It means a lot,” Elena replied and put a hand over his briefly.
Tyler gave Elena’s hand a brief squeeze. “No problem,” he said. “I’m not the same person I used to be.” Meaning he wasn’t a dick and he was actually capable of being there, emotionally, for his friends without doing something idiotic like, say, making out with their mothers. He wasn’t sure how he would have been able to make it through his own dreams if he hadn’t had Stefan there, or Blossom - even if she didn’t share their same dreams. “And listen, if you ever want to know what’s going to happen, you can ask me that too. No one told me what was going to happen in mine, and sometimes I wished someone had.” It had resulted in Tyler nearly getting Stefan killed during his first werewolf transformation. “But I won’t say anything if you’d rather I didn’t.”
Tyler didn’t need to say it for Elena to already know he was nothing like the somehow asshole jock he had been in high school. The brief squeeze to her hand spoke volumes about how he’d matured since they were both teenagers. It was the kind of change that Elena liked to see, especially in the people she cared about most in the world. Even Katherine not the same person Elena remembered when they’d been growing up in that rather tumultus household all those years ago. Oh, she was still sarcastic to Elena and bluntly rude at times, but the fact that she had actually come over to the house and talked with Elena? Well, that was something Elena never thought her sister would do again and not just because of her loathing and resentment for Elena, but because the house held too many painful memories for her twin.
“I know you’re not, Ty. Not at all,” Elena assured him quickly. “If you were, I’d probably not be sitting here with you.” Then again, Elena had more tolerance when it came to her friends and how they acted. She never stopped seeing the good sides of them even Tyler Lockwood and Damon Salvatore or...even her sister. “Actually, you know me. You know I care too much. Especially when it comes to my friends…”Elena trailed off and took a sip of her beer. It had definitely been something of a double-edge sword in Elena’s life because you couldn’t save everyone, but Elena was foolish enough to believe the opposite. Everyone was worth redeeming or at least attempting to. She didn’t believe people were born evil, but she did believe life could make someone colder, darker, and meaner. So far, she’d managed to resist this in her life, but her hardships had been nothing like her sister’s or some of her friends. She was the ‘golden twin’ after all.
At Tyler’s offer to tell her what was coming in the dreams, Elena offered a grateful smile. “At the moment, I’ve had so much foreshadowing from Damon and my sister that I’m pretty much prepped for the bad,” she replied, attempting to joke. “I don’t know if knowing would make it better for me, Ty. Why did you wish someone told you?”
Tyler smiled. He didn’t think he was the same as he had been in high school, but hearing confirmation from Elena was nice. He’d worked hard over the last couple of years so that he could be better than the guy who’d been kicked off Duke’s football team because he broke the jaw of one of his teammates. So that he could be the kind of guy who was worthy of dating someone like Blossom.
“I went through some… changes because of the dreams. Ones that I could have prepared for better if I’d known they were coming. But I didn’t, and I ended up hurting Stefan.” Tyler had dreamed about transforming into a werewolf on the same night as the full moon, and when it had carried over, he hadn’t been able to prep a place in time. He ended up biting Stefan, and if Damon hadn’t had a vial of Klaus’s blood from the dreams, well, things could have ended very badly.
At the mention of changes, Elena arched a brow and couldn’t help, but look a bit concerned. “What changes? They were that bad?” She couldn’t imagine Tyler hurting Stefan despite his reputation for fighting in the past. She found it hard to believe anyone would hurt Stefan; he was just a force that was cool and capable of keeping the peace regardless of whatever he found himself in. “That’s awful, Ty.” Elena touched his shoulder in comfort. “I’m sorry. In that case, yes, I would want someone to tell me. I don’t want to hurt my friends or anyone else.”
“They were pretty bad,” Tyler said. “But that’s over now.” He didn’t have to worry about transforming every full moon. As a hybrid, he could control his transformations. Which meant that he never had to turn again. He smiled at her. “I don’t think that is something you’ll have to worry about.” At least, not very soon. Elena had had pretty good control when she’d been a vampire, though she had turned off her humanity once. Still, that probably wouldn’t carry through. He hoped so, at least.
“But hey, enough about this downer dream stuff. What’ve you been up to these last few years?”
“Good. I’m glad,” Elena replied quickly. If her friends could pull through all of this, certainly she could too, right? Elena hardly counted herself among the fragile type, but she knew Katherine was not nearly so kind in her opinion of her twin. “I guess I will find out,” she added, sipping her beer. Would it be that bad for her? She hoped not, but somehow, from all the foreshadowing, she sensed it just might be horrible on the horizon for her even if she could not see it now.
The topic changed was welcomed and Elena settled back on the couch, feeling a bit more comfortable with the sudden switch to potentially more normal things. “Well, where do I begin?”