Who: Hope M and Scott M (feat. Victoria Argent) What: Hope runs into Scott When: Oct 30, morning Where: Streets Rating: low
It seemed like even after going to bed last night - with some difficulty - Victorian Argent was still around. Malia had helped him deal with it the first day when she had shown up, but Scott knew he had to go to work today as there was a special case that he needed to help with. Not only that, but there was only so much of Allison’s mom commenting on Malia that Scott could take.
Not that this morning was going much better. He was walking and trying to ignore her.
“Why am I stuck with you when I could be seeing Allison? Or Chris?”
“I don’t know.” Scott spoke quietly so he didn’t look like a crazy person. This wasn’t the first time Victoria brought up her family, but Scott wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. It was already established that no one else could see her. He also wasn’t sure he wanted Victoria to find out Chris was kind of into someone here, not that Chris was only obvious about it.
“Of course you don’t know. You’re not smart enough to figure it out”
Scott exhaled, feeling his headache rise.
Hope was blissfully unaffected by the latest bout of weirdness affecting Madison Valley. Which was good because she had her hands full running her mom’s restaurant. Between customers and staff issues, Hope had enough to deal with. Adding ghosts into that mix would only make things far worse. Of course, that didn’t mean her staff was unaffected, but Hope was at least able to handle their issues instead of being distracted by her own.
Plus, being a witch, Hope was able to ward the restaurant so that her workers and the customers that stepped foot inside didn’t have to deal with the ghost problem going around Madison Valley. The brunette was in the middle of going for a quick run to the grocery store. They were a little short on some ingredients and since Hope could handle the ghosts better? She decided to take the task on herself.
As she turned the corner, she caught sight of Scott looking rather defeated and rather exhausted. The two hadn’t spoken much since the whole marriage thing in the Renaissance, but Hope obviously still considered him a friend. And seeing him in distress bothered her. Maybe more so since their whole other life. It was awkward, but Hope was working on getting over that. She wasn’t going to let this place and its bullshit destroy her friendship with Scott. Hopefully, he felt the same. Dodging a few patrons on the street easily, Hope made her way over to scott.
“Hey, you okay?” Hope asked. “You look upset.”
Unexpectedly, Scott tensed when he heard Hope. It wasn’t about Hope herself or the whole being married to her in another life thing. It was the fact that Scott knew what she was and he was worried somehow that would end up getting her hurt from Victoria Argent…. Even if Victoria Argent was a ghost.
“Hope. Hey.” Scott forgot she asked a question.
Allison’s mother looked over the young woman was judgemental eyes. “Who’s this then? Someone else in you “pack”.”
It annoyed Scott that she said it like he didn’t have a real pack. His pack might have a various of human and supernatural creatures together, but they were still a pack. His tensing continued because of it.
Hope keen green eyes noticed how Scott tensed at her greeting. Oh no. Was it because of that whole marriage thing? Or something else? He didn’t even answer her question. He just continued to look upset and tense.
“Are you okay? I know that whole thing in the Renaissance was weird, but I hope we can still be friends despite that weirdness,” Hope said. If not, Hope would obviously accept his choice even if it would hurt. Given she grew up pushing people away, Hope tended to treasure all the friends she managed to make now. Even if they couldn’t be friends, Hope would still want to help him if she could.
And she felt like something was definitely going on with Scott. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but if I can help, I would like to.”
“What?” Scott blinked as he heard Victoria say ‘Renaissance thing?’
It took Scott a second - like it usually did - for him to realize what she said. Then he looked worried, eyes widening a little as he shook his head, hands lifting to further demonstrate his intent. “No, no. It’s not that. It’s -”
Victoria narrowed her eyes at him and Scott glanced in her direction. Even as a ghost she was intimidating. He pulled his eye from her and back to Hope and took a breath. “I’m, uh…. Being haunted?”
Victoria let out a derisive snort and rolled her eyes. “Not by choice.”
“Okay then what-” Hope broke off as Scott turned away from her and instead looked at the empty space next to him. Even before Scott said anything else, Hope already had a good idea as to what was going on now. Scott had a ghost.
Haunted. His words confirmed it and Hope frowned. It was clear whoever was haunting him was not someone he wanted to be conversing with. Well, Hope might be able to help with that.
“Who is haunting you, Scott?” Hope asked gently. “I already have the sense that it’s not someone you want to talk to you.”
Scott was actually prepare for the biting retort Victoria gave this time. What Scott really wanted to do was not reveal what Hope was. While Victoria was a ghost, she was still an Argent, and Argents were forces to be reckoned with. If someone could figure out how to harm another person while being a ghost, it’d be them. On the flip side, he didn’t want to have to do anything to harm Victoria since this was Allison’s mother and Allison loved her mom, despite her faults.
He looked almost embarrassed as he explained, if only because it was maybe ridiculous too. When Scott thought about all the people who could haunt him - Erica, Boyd, Aiden, and so many others - somehow the Dome had landed on Mrs. Argent.
“...Allison’s mom?” Did Hope know who that was? Hope knew Chris, right, and what he did back home?
Despite hanging around some members of Scott’s pack, Hope knew painfully little about what happened back in their world. She didn’t know how terrible the Argents were and while Allison was dating her uncle, Hope hadn’t exactly been too involved in that relationship. While she was glad Kol found someone to ground him here, it still felt rather weird that he was with someone so close to her own age. Of course, technically, Kol was only in his twenties though he’d lived for hundreds of years.
“Okay,” Hope answered. “I’m not familiar with her, but I can offer you some protection from her contact. If that’s something you might want. Obviously, you don’t have to take it, but just know, it wouldn’t harm the ghost.” There were ways to do that, but Hope wasn’t out to do that to any ghosts unless they were dangerous.
“She’s a witch?” Victoria made the word sound like a curse word. Scott couldn’t help feeling a little protective of Hope, though, which meant he turned and gave Victoria a serious sort of look. One more Alpha than Scott. “You’re going to have to deal with the fact there are supernatural people here and everyone’s okay with that.” He wanted to say that Chris was okay with that, but it felt like he’d be crossing a line. “And my friends are off limits.”
He turned back to Hope and his expression soften, though he still looked somewhat sheepish as he explained. “The Argents… were really extreme hunters.”
“Are.” Victoria corrected and Scott rolled his eyes.
Scott focused on Hope. “Are you sure it won’t harm her? She’s still Allison’s mom. She just… we’re not great friends.” Victoria had nearly killed him, after all.
Clearly, whatever the woman said struck a chord with Scott because he turned away from Hope and started talking to where Hope assumed VIctoria currently stood. Hope felt better as soon as he said his friends were off limits. It solidified that Hope and him were still friends. That meant a lot to the tribrid, especially given how many people she’d lost in her short lifetime.
Scott turned back to her, looking sheepish as he explained that the Argents were extreme hunters. Hope could easily connect the dots from there. The brunette nodded. “I get it.” Alaric had been a hunter too once upon a time. Of course, given both his children were supernaturals and he ran a school, he didn’t do it anymore. He more so just fought the weird crap that ended up on their doorstep alongside Hope.
At his question, Hope shook her head. “It won’t hurt her, Scott. I promise. It’s just to keep her out of a place you are in. She’ll still be around, she just won’t be able to bother you. It’ll help you at least be able to sleep.” Well, he’d probably still worry about Victoria being a ghosty floating around, but at least she wouldn’t be hovering over him, insulting him.
Scott mulled it over for a moment which seemed to make Victoria more angry, but honestly? He hadn’t been able to sleep last night because of her and since they had no idea how long the ghosts would be around, maybe some warding would be good. If Hope said it wouldn’t hurt the ghost, then he believed her.
“Okay.” He said with a nod. “Let’s do it.” He needed it, really. Though he paused before asking. “If I need to, can you take it down? … in case Allison wants to talk to her mom.” Through him, obviously.
When Scott agreed, Hope gave him a small smile and nodded. She was relieved that Scott had agreed. It would help him to sleep and also probably keep Malia happy too. Obviously, Hope didn’t have to place them up everywhere Scott or his pack was either. He could tell her specifically where he wanted her to place them.
“Yes, if you want me to take them down, I can. Allison can certainly have time with her mom,” Hope assured him. “It’ll just give you some of your privacy back which I’m sure you definitely need at this point.”
He nodded. “Okay. I trust you.” And he did. Scott gave her a smile. “Just tell me what I need to do.”