Freya Mikaelson is Tired™ (frelsi) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-08-02 09:26:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, elijah mikaelson, freya mikaelson |
Who: Elijah and Freya
What: Freya’s back in town and needs a ride from the airport
When: 2 August 2017, afternoon
Where: LAX to Elijah’s apartment
Warnings: Low
Status: Log | Complete
Freya was exhausted. Exhausted and confused and worried all in one. Though she supposed it made sense. The exhaustion was easy enough to explain, she’d been travelling for about sixteen hours by the time her flight landed and somehow it was only afternoon. Though that was what happened when one factored in time zones, so while her body was saying it should be time to sleep, the outside world said otherwise. Then there was the reason for her return to Orange County. It wasn’t a wedding, or a funeral, or a holiday (when she was able to make the holidays work), but just a bunch of frantic messages from her parents about how the family was falling apart and please come home.
Well, her current job contract had ended and with nothing lined up and her concern and worry, Freya had booked a flight and sent her itinerary to Elijah. She could have gotten an Uber or something and then found a hotel to stay at, however it was just easier to reach out to her brother.
Having finished up in the washroom so that she didn’t look like as exhausted as she felt (cold water and make up worked wonders), Freya was at baggage claim. It was an odd feeling, not having a plan of action. Normally she would have had been looking for her next work with one of the international organizations she would be contracted with, but that hadn’t been the case this time. So here she was, having gone through customs and now waiting at baggage claim for her bags to come around so she could go in search of her brother.
Elijah hadn't really intended to be the start of familial drama, but he'd somehow managed to find himself in the middle of it. Family had always been important to him and he strove to keep things running smoothly, even when it came to his parents. He had tried to be forgiving. He had tried to be understanding. He had gone to parent-teacher conferences in an effort to keep the younger ones from having to deal with their parents who would have been too busy to go anyway. He'd done everything in his power to keep the peace.
Introducing Ezio to his parents was meant to be a positive experience. He'd wanted them to see he was happy, but his parents had made it clear that they did not see it in the positive light he'd hoped they would. So he'd stopped. He'd stopped smoothing things over and stopped trying to play parent to everyone. Part of that was the realization that he was not in charge of fixing everyone's problems. Not that he didn't still feel the urge to step in and fix the problems. He would if it was necessary, but he was trying to remind himself that he was not in charge of fixing all their problems. They had to learn how to fix their own problems eventually.
The arrival of Freya’s itinerary had been somewhat surprising as he had not expected she would be back. It also alerted him to the fact of how long it had been since he spoke to his sister. He'd allowed time to pick her up, making sure nothing overlapped. He pulled into the loop so he could pick his sister up, checking his phone for any information or texts he might have received since he started driving. Nothing that he didn't already see. He put on his hazard lights and got out of the car.
Half the time, Freya debated coming back. Then again, one of the reasons she preferred her current job situation of taking contract positions was that it meant she was never in one place for all that long and maybe Dahlia wouldn’t show up. She was a grown woman, yet her aunt had done a number on her when she’d been in school and well, she had never really recovered. Visits home for the holidays had been easier on a school schedule, making time became harder with the length of flights and work, but she’d made it work when she could. Especially for major events, and yet now… Well, she had no idea what she was walking into.
And there was her baggage. Managing to get it down with little trouble (what, she was tired), she made her way out to the pick up area and… ah, there was Elijah. With a wave, the blonde wove her way through the people before reaching her younger brother with a smile.
“Surprise!”
For now it was nice to just be with family again. Okay so they hadn’t spoken all that much recently, but she’d always been close to Elijah and Finn as they’d been born so close together. She would worry about everything else in a bit.
Elijah smiled the moment that he saw Freya. He didn’t wave back, but he did move to take her luggage and put it in the back of his car. Ezio and Kol had both teased him about his old man car, but he wasn’t really terribly concerned about it. They also teased him about his suits. Recently Kol had threatened them, but Elijah refused to get too paranoid about it. They would tease him even more then.
“You are quite surprising, though perhaps not as surprising as you might have been if you hadn’t sent your itinerary.” His smile grew. “But yes. Surprising nonetheless.” More in that she had come home again.
He opened the car door for her. “What brought you home again so soon? I thought you’d be busy with your work. But I can understand if it was to see my shining face. I would have come home for that as well.”
“Fine, be pedantic. But would you have rathered I just sent you a text message instead? I considered it.” Grinning some as she got into the car, she shifted as she buckled herself in to get comfortable. As tired as she was, she’d been on a plane for thirteen hours after her layover in Warsaw. Oh well, once they were at Elijah’s she could move around more. Still, it was all in good teasing so it wasn’t like she was all that concerned.
“Your shining face is always a wonderful incentive. But I’m actually between contracts right now, so the timing worked out. It’s better than being here for a day for a funeral before having to go back to Kiev.” That had been a difficult trip. Not only because of the reasoning, but just the amount of travel just so she could be there for a day and a half for her brother before having to go back to work. Even with a promise to be available for messaging and Skype, she knew it wasn’t really enough.
“Though there’s also apparently a family crisis I’ve been missing.” Quirking a brow, Freya looked at Elijah curiously. He was the one who was most likely to give her a straight answer on what was going on without embellishment or histrionics like the ones she’d gotten in the messages from their parents.
“It is my natural state of being,” he replied, trying not to smile too much. Elijah was glad that he hadn’t been the one flying that day. He really didn’t want to think about what might have happened if he’d been trapped in a plane with a collection of people. Any of whom might have accidentally started bleeding. His control was better, but he still didn’t like to be in enclosed places with multiple people for too long.
“Is that what it is? And here I’d hoped you missed me.” Light teasing was always a thing with Freya and him. Sometimes he could even get away with it with the others. It really depended on their mood and what he was teasing about. “It feels like quite a long time since we’ve seen you.”
And then she mentioned the family crisis. His expression sobered a bit. “I’m afraid that is my fault.” Not in its entirety, but partially. “I took someone home to meet our parents with a very misguided hope that our parents wouldn’t turn it into something distasteful.” On their end. Everything had been fine on his end. “I’ll be sure to introduce you once you’ve had time to sleep and get yourself back to the right timezone.” He waved it off as he started to pull out of his spot and make his way back to his place. “It started off well enough. Ezio was polite. Mother was quite determined to refer to him as my friend the entire time. I could have lived with that annoyance, but father put his foot in it, to be polite.” As if anyone was surprised by that.
“So we left and I didn’t respond to Mother or Father and they contacted Kol and Rebekah and Kol...overreacted.” He hadn’t felt that it required quite the reaction it had gotten. He hadn’t any intention of threatening their parents. “Which, of course, made it worse.” He sighed. “But to end on a positive note, we went to Italy to meet his family and it went fairly well, actually. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a functional family before. It was refreshing.”
“I always miss you. But it has been a while for a proper visit, hasn’t it?” She did feel bad about that. Family had always been important yet with her work and everything it entailed (and their family entailed)... well, it wasn’t the easiest thing in the world to be able to get away for long periods of time.
Then Elijah was saying that somehow it was his fault for the family being in a supposed crisis and all Freya could do was look at him. That sounded so far from what she would have expected that she wasn’t sure what to say. So instead she just listened and took in everything that was said. It left her uneasy for a number of reasons. One, it didn’t seem like something she could actually fix. Two, it brought back Dahlia’s words to her from when she’d been in university and their aunt had found her with one of her female classmates in a compromising position….
Though it did answer in some way some things she’d been wondering about.
“When did this happen?” Because Kol had gotten hostile in their talks and if it somehow tied back to this for...some reason she couldn’t make sense of, well, at least she’d have that answer.
“Still. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about this person. Or that you were in Italy. You know it’s a lot easier for me to get to Italy than it is here.”
Yes. That was the main take away. Not really, but she would rather tease her brother about how he left her out of the loop about his love life as opposed to the drama that she wasn’t sure what she was expected to do about.
“It has. Sometimes I wonder if you ever loved me at all.” Which was a lie. He knew well enough that his sister loved him. Still, he’d been there...cleaning up messes that weren’t his to clean up. It would have been nice to have someone around that didn’t add to the messes he was cleaning up. Well, someone that he wasn’t currently sleeping with.
“Around the beginning of the month.” It may have been the end of the last, but it was still around that same time. And then he’d left. It was easier to not deal with their family when he was abroad and didn’t really want to spend a lot of money to call often. But he answered if they needed him and he wasn’t already in the middle of something else.
“I forgot?” Elijah gave her a hint of an apologetic look. “I'll make sure to introduce you both soon. You're bound to like him since everyone does. He is particularly charming and very Italian.” Among other things. “There are perhaps some other things we may need to discuss.” Like the vampire thing. He wasn't sure how much she knew about that yet. “But I'll leave that for later.”
“You wound me.” Though she knew that she could have come back after school. There was just so much, and with Dahlia in her head… even if she kept all of that to herself. She was the older sister, she was supposed to have a hold on everything. Instead she ran while trying to make herself as available to her siblings as she could. Not always the easiest of matters. “I’ll find a way to make it up to you.”
“Hmm. So around the time Kol started getting distant and hostile at me.” Weird timing. Something which she was way too tired to think about right now. Then again, there were a lot of different personalities between the siblings and there wasn’t much she could do about that right now.
“I’m not sure I can see how you forget to mention a boyfriend, but I’ll give you a pass since you say you’ll introduce us. But Italian and charming, very nice.” The comment on telling her about other things did make her sit up a bit more and look at Elijah. “That sounds ominous.” And oh she had no idea about how ominous. Though she was definitely not in any condition to hear about her brothers being vampires right now.
“As you should. I have gotten very demanding in my old age.” Which really wasn't that old. And it was never going to get older than that. He was always going to be this age. Physically. Chronologically, however, he would get much older.
Would you believe that he is very distracting? Things which he decided against saying even if they were somewhat true. Ezio was very distracting and Elijah was easily distracted. But it didn’t need to be brought up. There was also the matter of his having to focus on too many things at once. Most of those things to do with their family. If it wasn’t one tragedy, it was another. “The children have been acting up. It’s required a lot of attention.” That much was true at least. There were also a lot of vampire-related things and the dream-related things. He didn’t think it a good idea to discuss those things either, however. Not now. Later, maybe.
“His mother taught me a few recipes while I was in Italy, so perhaps we’ll do dinner sometime.” Dinner where he’d pretend to enjoy consuming human food. He could get actual dinner before or after. “Of course, I can always impress you before then.” Not that he wasn’t able to cook previously, but it wasn’t like she’d been around for long enough to have him cook for her and he had it on good authority that the authentic Italian recipes were better. He had to trust the people telling him because human food was...not what it used to be. The Italians hadn’t been too bad, though.
“Well it’s good to know that now. I’ll make sure to figure out how.” They may not be all that old, but goodness knew that sometimes it felt like days were years. Not that Freya was aware of the vampire thing. That would be a bit much to take at the moment.
Too many things to focus on was one of Freya’s specialities. It made her work and life interesting, but for the most part fulfilling. Or as fulfilling as she would let it be. There was something to be said about staying in one location for longer than a year and a half, but Freya had yet to do that. It would happen. Eventually. Just not right now. “I do recall the children requiring a lot of attention. I suppose it was naive to think they’d mellow out.” Freya on the other hand had no idea how accurate that sentiment was. She just knew the general outline of what Elijah had told her. But it wasn’t terribly shocking once she’d been told, at least about the reactions.
“Oh, proper Italian food. I’m intrigued. I’d offer to make pampushky, though I’m not quite sure how well a Ukrainian dessert would go with an Italian meal. Still. I’m glad you found this Ezio and that his family welcomed you.”
Even if she had decided that it was just safer not to let anyone close, that didn’t mean she wanted that for her siblings. No. She wanted them to find love and happiness and despite all the drama it brought, it seemed Elijah had found that for himself.
“They often do. If it’s not smoothing over one thing, it’s another.” Kol had needed to be talked out of shutting his emotions off and so he and Rebekah had spent quite a bit of time looking after Mareena and him at the same time. But as far as Elijah was concerned, Rebekah was one of the children also. Not negatively speaking, but she’d been one of the ones young enough that he’d seen to whatever she needed...even as he went to school. “Rebekah is the only one I’m not concerned will go off on a rampage and tell me about the fallout later.” He would always doubt Niklaus’ ability to maturely handle anything, but he imagined a lot of that had to do with the dreams and some to do with Niklaus being Niklaus.
“She did try not to laugh at me in the beginning because I was so serious. And I only packed suits, which seemed to amuse them all, Ezio included. But yes, proper Italian food. Who could say about the pampushky, though. It may work out.” But he didn’t have casual clothing outside of one outfit that Rebekah had bought for him. Also he didn’t see why he needed to have casual clothing. He did not feel like himself. He would, of course try it...Ezio really wanted him to. “Kol threatened to get rid of all my suits and replace them. Who can say what he believes is casual wear.” Who could trust it? “I didn’t mean to. He jokingly asked me to bring him flowers. I was not going to, but Kol urged me to go do it.” He smiled a little at the memory. “He touched my ass the first time we met. Despite my general uncertainty, I agreed to take him to Disney and show him around...and it sort of went from there.” Because Ezio had kissed him and he had kissed back. He didn’t regret it. His only regret was that their parents had made such a poor impression.
“Clearly some things never change.” Freya had done her best through Skype and messages after the death of Mary Alice, but that was all she could do. She’d had her job in Kiev. Still, there had always been matters like that which needed to be dealt with when she’d still been in high school. Fourteen years clearly didn’t mean much on that particular level. “Though yes, Rebekah always has had a more level head on her shoulders. I can’t see her going on a rampage.” For which she was relieved. Honestly there were enough fires going on already. As for Klaus, well, Freya had managed to keep in touch with him though she didn’t have dreams or anything to make her concerned about her younger brother. Or at least more so than she otherwise would have been.
“You, only pack suits? Madness.” Freya’s tone was light. After all, Elijah was always quite put together and she really couldn’t see him in what would be considered casual clothing. Elijah’s form of casual was not wearing a suit jacket and tie while still having a perfectly pressed shirt and the pants from said suit. “And I guess we won’t know unless we try.” Pampushky at least wasn’t too complicated. Just a powdered pastry dessert with fruit filling when she made it.
“I cannot see you in something that Kol would pick out. Your styles are far too different.” It wasn’t a bad thing, but really. “It sounds more like something that would happen in a game of truth or dare or a lost bet.” Freya smiled softly as Elijah told her about how he had ended up with Ezio, nodding some. “I think that’s the best way sometimes for these things to happen from what I’ve been told. Unplanned but just...working.”
It was one of the things Elijah enjoyed about Rebekah. He could trust her not to be entirely ridiculous. Perhaps that was not so in the dreams, but out of them, it was. In the dreams, he could count on her to be loyal to her brothers and her family. He could trust that he could use things to manipulate her. But he tried not to think about his hand in it all. As Ezio had told him time and time again, he did not have to be the man he was in his dreams. He just worried he would become him with time. Living forever changed people.
“I know what I look best in. I don’t see why that should change just because I am on vacation. I feel sloppy when I wear t-shirts. I did wear one recently...and a pair of jeans. It felt wrong. I had to go to the hospital in a hurry, however. Not for me.” He waved it off as if it wasn’t a big deal. At the time it had been a big deal because he was concerned that Ezio was going to die. He didn’t want to make his blood a bandaid for everything and he wasn’t sure it would have helped. “I’ll let Ezio know we’re mixing cultures for a night. I’m sure he won’t mind.”
At least she was sensible enough to know that whatever Kol’s choices were would be...well...Kol’s. “Rebekah bought me exactly one outfit that was not a suit, which I wore to Disney.” Somehow it had worked its magic on Ezio and the man had been sufficiently charmed enough to kiss him. He still didn’t fully understand it. He likely never would. He was just glad it had happened. “I don’t think I’d have planned this. I wouldn’t have imagined that it was something I wanted, something I could have.” Not when his shortcomings regarding his family had gotten in his way every step of the way before. “But...it’s nice. I’m happy.” Something he thought might have been out of reach for him. “But my happiness has caused discord in our family and now things are...complicated.”
“Wait, who was in the hospital?” That caught her attention. And of course Elijah wouldn’t have worn a suit to the hospital if something that serious had gone on. Still, at least it was a relief that it wasn’t Elijah. None of her conversations with Kol or Rebekah had pointed to it being them…. Process of elimination said that meant Ezio, however she was still going to worry. “But sounds good. I’m looking forward to it.”
Nodding some, Freya looked to her brother, “Well that’s good. As much as you feel like you in a suit, suits and Disney don’t exactly mix.” Still, it was a good conversation and even with the discord it had caused, Elijah was happy and that was what mattered to Freya. It was what she wanted for all of her siblings. “I know how that feels. But I’m really happy that you’re happy.” It was something she herself had written off back in university and her lack of being in one location for more than a year… well, it was what it was. “I think it’s fair to say that things are always complicated in our family.”
Running her fingers through her hair, Freya shrugged.
“You deserve to be happy though, so even if it’s complicated, hold onto that happiness.”
“Ezio. Pneumonia. He is very stubborn.” Which was one of the things Elijah liked about him. Even if it did occasionally make him feel crazy. Elijah had a feeling that being stubborn was a majority of the reason he’d stuck around. He’d refused to let the Mikaelsons push him out. It was admirable. Elijah himself was not interesting in letting them chase him away either. “I had to drag him to the hospital.”
There was a hint of a smile at Freya’s words. “Yes. There are children with ice cream and other sticky things on their hands.” He sighed. “It is an unfortunate place for a suit.” He’d already lost countless to blood. He’d gotten better at it now. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better than it had been.
“If things are ever not complicated with our family, remind me to be suspicious. Only you likely won’t have to remind me. I’ll probably know.” He offered her a quick smile. “...I know.” Which was a lie. He didn’t know that to be a truth, but perhaps it was because of the way things had always been. Still, he wasn’t letting go. “He deserves better than me, but he hasn’t run away yet. Not even after meeting our parents. It’s the stubbornness I mentioned.”
Freya nodded some, “Ah yes, the ever formidable pneumonia. No wonder you weren’t dressed in a suit when you’re having to drag someone to the hospital.” She remembered her own bought with pneumonia after Klaus had been born, of then having to stay with Dahlia to keep from getting newborn Klaus sick as well.
“A very unfortunate place, best not to tempt fate.”
“I’m pretty sure that things not being complicated would be the sign of the apocalypse or something similar.” It was a sad fact that was also quite normal. Even while overseas she hadn’t exactly escaped that truth. “He may be stubborn, but don’t sell yourself short either. He clearly thinks differently. As you said, he didn’t let our parents scare him away and that takes more than just stubbornness.”
He was just glad that Ezio hadn’t been strong enough to fight back at the time. It had been a situation that made him worried. He’d attempted not to hover, but he’d also never been very good at not hovering. Kol had already teased him about it. “He was too out of sorts to notice, so I survived any possible embarrassment on my part.” And he could have compelled the staff to forget, but he didn’t think they were overly concerned about him at the time, so they probably didn’t even remember.
Elijah smiled at that. “Well, then I suppose we cannot hope for such things, lest we bring about the apocalypse. No one would thank us.” He glanced over at Freya for a moment before nodding. “Love does seem to forgive a great many sins. Even if they are not terrible ones to begin with.” He was happy, but it did not make him less concerned that somehow he did not deserve it. It just happened that he was determined not to make the same mistakes and push people away out of fear or some misplaced idea of nobility. Ezio had made his choice, so Elijah would hold on as long as he could.
Once they reached his complex, Elijah parked the car and got out, grabbing Freya’s luggage. “It’s not terribly far up.” Ezio had climbed his way up, but they could take the elevator. Elijah usually took the stairs as he could move faster than the elevator, but some things needed to be done for the sake of appearances. He imagined that also included eating human food again.
The apartment was nicely furnished. Nothing too modern, but nothing too ancient either. The walls were clean. Everything was just so. He couldn’t help that he was clean. It helped to relieve stress at times. Sometimes just the act of ironing clothing was enough to help distract him from whatever he was attempting to avoid. “Your room is this way,” he said, walking into the second bedroom at the apartment and putting her things at the end of the bed. He’d changed the sheets and made sure the room was ready. He’d had the time. “I hope it’s to your liking.”
“Well that is certainly a relief.” Not like it would matter in the moment. Health emergency and all. And doctors saw so many people on any one day that Elijah in jeans and a t-shirt was not going to be noticed. Honestly she was surprised he even had jeans and a t-shirt. Unless they were Ezio’s. They were probably Ezio’s.
“No, I don’t think they would.” Of course, Freya had no idea about Orange County or how drastically things had changed since she’d been there. The strange happenings and everything that could occur. “Mm, so I’ve been told.” It was Freya’s own decision not to open herself up to someone. And well, it was true. Each person was their own worst critic. So while Elijah may be concerned he didn’t deserve happiness or love, others were different. That was life.
On a normal day, Freya would be fine with walking up the stairs, depending on where she was working stairs were often easier to use with less chance of things breaking down. However, after the long flight? She was thankful for the elevator. Just because she was determined to try and stay up until a semi-normal time to go to sleep in order to try and readjust quickly to the time difference, that didn’t mean she had all the energy in the world at her disposal.
Following Elijah into the apartment, Freya looked around. She was far from surprised that it was all organized and cleaned. It was Elijah after all. And into the second room. “It’s great. Thank you.”
They were not Ezio’s. He’d purchased them as an experiment. He was not convinced. He’d probably let Ezio keep them if he wanted to. He would consider casual clothing if it was expressed that he really should, but he would also be taking any casual clothes to a tailor to make sure that they fit properly. Casual did not need to mean sloppy.
Kol and Rebekah had already told him multiple times that he deserved happiness and he knew they were probably right about that, but the more he dreamt and the more he saw of himself, the less sure he was of that. Even if he knew that man was not him so much as a version of himself that seemed far less aware of the lives of others. He’d killed people for betraying him. It wasn’t a new concept, truly, the idea of people killing those that betrayed them, but unless the betrayal involved harming his family (not trying to destroy his chances at killing his brother), he couldn’t see himself doing it. Even if Klaus was a pain in the ass.
“It’s not the fanciest place, but I figure it will do. There’s plenty of alcohol if you need it.” A pause. “Have you eaten? I have some leftovers.” Also known as...he made food and pretended to eat some of it, but really, he’d just packaged it in a way that made it seem like he’d eaten. He was going to have to pretend to enjoy human food, he supposed. At least until he was sure she could handle the news that her siblings were vampires. He’d talk to Rebekah and Kol about not revealing things they shouldn’t. He’d also have Kol tell Damon to keep his spoilers to himself for the time being.
“Yes, yes it will. Fancy is overrated anyway.” Yes, they had grown up in a certain type of living situation, and then there was just the fact that they liked to appear well put together. But really, there was enough room, it was well furnished and it fit Elijah. Which meant, it was fine by Freya. And alcohol was always a good thing when dealing with their family. There had been plenty of times after calls where Freya would need a drink. “Good to know.”
Then again, of course there would be alcohol given said dysfunctional family.
“I had something on the flight over,” One of the nice things about international flights, they actually fed you. “But that sounds good for later.”
Elijah nodded. Well, at least he had things left over when she was ready to eat. He could always pretend to have eaten previously if necessary. It wouldn’t be too difficult to avoid some things for now. “Is there anything I can get you? You have towels sitting out on the dresser if you’d like a shower.” If she did, he’d take his leave and let her get settled. “I wasn’t sure what sort of shampoo or conditioner you preferred, but there’s some stuff in the bathroom for you. If you have any requests, just let me know.” Because this was Elijah trying not to feel strangely about how little he knew about the smaller details of his sister’s life. It made presents more difficult, but at least there was always alcohol and gift cards.
Freya gave a small nod. She had some shower things in her bag so it wasn’t a big deal if Elijah didn’t have what she’d normally use. All things considered she was pretty easy going on that front. Plus the whole exhausted thing she was currently dealing with. Still a shower was something she was planning on doing after a long flight. That and read.
“No, I’m good for now, thanks. Though I do plan on taking a shower.”
She could get settled in a bit. There would be plenty of time for a more proper catching up session with Elijah once she was more rested, as well as the others who were in the area. Not to mention seeing about going to New Orleans before she headed back to Europe to see Klaus. After all, she didn’t see this trip lasting more than a month, she had to make the most of it even while trying to deal with her parents as she had a feeling their reasons for reaching out to her were not going to go as they had hoped now that she knew more of what was going on.