Fate's a Bitch, Isn't It?

LOCATION | The marked in Grounds of Lily
DATE | 28th of April 2022
TIME | Midday
WEATHER | Bright and sunny
ATTIRE | Elena
TOPIC FOR | @Flora xx
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It wasn't much that Elena went out and about, sadly, but she tried to. Especially after the whole episode with Zadkiel back in the beginning of the year, how he had been kidnapped and tortured, almost killed it had really brought her down. But as she could teleport anywhere she wanted to, it should be easy to stay where ever she wanted right? No, because for someone who just sometimes wanted to disappear and go where no one knew her. She had had afternoons on stranded islands, she wished she had the nerves to wonder alone in the woods, but she still had yet to even want to go out there by herself. But being home had been nice, and she had spent a lot of time just baking and cooking with Danica, singing along on the radio. So, now she was here at the marked in Grounds of Lily, mostly just looking at small things, maybe she should bring Griffin something? A small present maybe.

Then, across the path she saw someone and for a moment it was like looking at a mirror, just by some of the features from the side. She was drawn closer to the person, like something in her knew that she needed to be near her. That there was something. So, Elena being Elena walked closer towards the girl. "These are so beautiful, they really would bring out your eyes," she picked up a set of earrings and looked towards the girl she felt so drawn to. Mostly to strike a conversation. You hadn't been friends with Ajax, Caroline and Nia without knowing how to strike a conversation about everything and nothing.

Things had started to quiet down around her, not that her mother had stopped trying to come in contact with her. Especially after she had shut off her phone and not spoken to her at all since December. There was something so freeing about just being able to do what she wanted, without feeling that everything needed to be vetted by her parents. As if they were the one managing her life. So, the time she had spent with Elias and his family, had really shown her what family was actually all about.
For the first time in, she couldn’t really remember when, she had found herself walking around the marked. There wasn’t really any reason for her to have an escort all the time, and Elias had gone off to some meeting and there hadn’t really been anyone left at the mansion. Lexie was out doing something, and Leon was busy and Mariella had her own family things to take care off. So that left little old her.
Standing looking at a booth she had recognised some kind of pull to someone that she couldn’t really explain, but each time she looked up she couldn’t localise where it was coming from. Then there was suddenly someone speaking to her, and as she looked at the woman it was like she was looking straight into a mirror her eyes widened. There was the pull again, so it was her? “What?” she said clearly not understanding what the other person had said then she looked down at the earrings and a smile blossomed over her lips. “They really are pretty, you think?” she asked about the fact that they would bring out her eyes, she took them and placed them next to her ear while looking into the mirror. “Mmh, I think you’re right” she mumbled and then looked back at Elena - wait, what? “I’m sorry this is going to sound weird, are you’re name Elena?”

"Oh honey if there is anything I do know it's this, trust me on it," Elena smiled with a soft little chuckle, letting the stranger lift the earrings up towards her ears like trying them on, and Elena tilted her head a little bit. Right she was. Then their eyes locked again, and Elena narrowed her eyes for a little second when the girl knew her name. "Yeah?" She pressed her brows a bit together, and under other circumstances she would have started planning her sweet escape - but no, there was something in her that knew she needed to stay grounded right here and find out what was going on. "Why? -" Elena wondered and crossed her arms a little bit, okay perhaps she was a bit alert - not that many people who knew her would judge her for it. But even if she was alert she didn't feel like she should fear this girl, and yet she couldn't help herself. "Sorry - I tend to get a bit jumpy time to time," she excused knowing she might have looked a bit spooked out by the question.

She nodded swallowing and then gave apologetic smile as Elena clearly started to put defences up. If it had been her, she would have done the same which was why she didn’t take it to heart. She shook her head quickly when she apologised herself and told her that she was jumpy. “No don’t apologise, it was a weird thing for me to ask” she shook her head and let out a sigh “It’s just, this whole supernatural thing is very new to me, but I - my powers, I don’t know, I feel like I’ve met you before, but not - not in this form and - now I’m rambling and I’m probably scaring you away, and I should really stop talking, Hi my name is Flora” she put out her hand for Elena to take and gave her a brilliant smile trying to ease into what might feel like an ambush of some sort. She wanted to say something more that might be able to ease the girls mind, but when it came down to it, she wasn’t even sure she knew what she could say or do. Just because she knew her name, didn’t mean that she knew who she was, now did it.

Oh yeah the knowledge of the supernatural, she recalled when she had learned about it. It had been Griffin who had shown her that part of the world, even if it was through some pretty black and white colored glasses till she had gotten him to change his point of view. But then took Flora's hand as she reached it out for her, "Elena - as you somehow knew," she chuckled a bit. "But well I get it, the supernatural can be tricky like that. Powers and abilities are sometimes one hell of a rollercoaster," She added with a uplifting smile. It was an odd feeling. Familiarity, just like walking inside somewhere and being home - the connection was so uncanny it made shivers run down her spine. "You in the mood for some iced coffee, there should be a highly recommended coffee shop just down the street, my friend used to come here all the time before she moved back to Manchester," she told. Sometimes she missed Caroline and Ajax hanging around here, but they were happy back in Manchester and that were the most important thing to her.

Flora chuckled and let her head fall, so her eyes were directed towards their shoes; lifting them again, there was a slight tug in the left side of her mouth. How she understood that way of phrasing it; was one hell of a rollercoaster. That was one way of seeing it. Not only had she found her ability, but she also realised that the supernatural was real and not something she just pretended it was. How foolish she had felt the first couple of weeks after. Mainly because of how many things she thought were correct but then had turned out to be opposite to what she had considered.
Flora licked her lips, looking towards where Elena pointed out they could get an iced coffee. “Normally, I wouldn’t walk around with strangers, but, well”, she gave her a shy look “I think we can both say that there is something here that neither of us understands, so sure, let’s get a coffee – I’m just going to text my boyfriend, he gets rather” she made a gesture with her hand to explain how Elias could get if he didn’t know where she was. Before taking out her phone and texting her address. If anything happened, he would be able to get there fast. After that was done, she put it away and gave Elena another gentle smile. “All right, lead the way,” she said, almost walking away with the earrings without paying. “Oops, sorry!” she laughed and handed the vendor the money, taking the bag before walking with her newfound friend towards the café.

"Normally I don't invite strangers, but here we are," Elena chuckled a little bit to herself, it was a while since she had felt remotely social. Which was fun because beforehand she had been such a social butterfly, not minding just walking up to a stranger and strike a conversation. But then nodded when she mentioned that she would text her boyfriend with her whereabouts, Elena for one knew one couldn't be too sure in these parts. Even if she did rely on her powers to get her away from most situations these days, both Diego and Danica knew she had taken the bus here in case of anything. "Werewolf?" She asked from the hand signing, mostly also well - she lived with Diego, she knew a protective werewolf just by talking about one. "Yes," she then exclaimed as Flora said for her to lead the way, almost started walking when Flora realized she had forgotten to pay for the earrings. Once paid for they could head towards the café and Elena just hoped Caroline was right about the place being absolutely amazing - but well Caroline was typical good when it came to give the right feedback about places like this. "It's right over there," well Elena could just have teleported them there, but it wasn't like she wanted to scare off her newfound friend by teleporting them away.

Flora looked a little surprised at Elena as she asked if her boyfriend was a werewolf. “Yes –“ she was just about to ask if it was that obvious, but there shouldn’t have been any indicators that her boyfriend was even a supernatural. “How did you know?” she asked, nodding as Elena pointed out where it was. Letting out a small breath, she felt her phone vibrate, but her mind was somewhere else, which made her forget to pull it out and see what the text said. For all she knew, it could just be a notification for one of those games she had started to play to make time pass her by even though she had used much time reading in the library.
She looked inside; luckily, it seemed like there weren’t a whole lot of people. And with a silent breath of relief, she stepped inside and let her eyes wander over the many types of iced coffee you could get. Pursing her lips thoughtfully, she tried to figure out what she wanted to taste. “Any recommendations?” she asked, looking at Elena with a soft expression.

How did she know? Elena couldn't really help but chuckle a little bit, "my father is a beta werewolf, and he tends to get overly protective, so, the signs are of," she mirrored the movement Flora had done with her hands seconds ago, "it had me, so perhaps just being good at guessing," Elena gave Flora a little teasing wink. Well, the guess had been spot on after all, she took some pride in that.
Getting inside the café Elena understood why Caroline had praised so fondly about it, there were endless of different ice coffees, frappes and the like. "Oh well, full disclosure, I've never been in here. But, do have heard a little bird sing about their mocha frappuccino with just a single espresso shot, should be heaven sent," she chuckled a little bit, and folded her lips and narrowed her eyes whilst looking at the big menu card, how did people even chose from here? Maybe it was the secret trick, making people want to return to try yet another one? Clever bastards.

She made a mental note about her father being a beta werewolf, not that it gave much to the knowledge of why she felt like she had known the woman by her side her entire life. But it might be something to ponder about when she once again was alone if they couldn’t figure it out while they were together drinking an iced coffee. “You know what, that does sound like heaven” she laughed and then walked up to order just that, then stepped to the side so Elena could order whatever she wanted or felt like she needed for this lovely spring day.

As they stood, waiting for their orders to be done, her eyes landed on Elena. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but it almost feels like I’ve known you my whole life”, she chuckled, licking her lips “have you ever felt that about people before?” she wondered, not having experienced it herself before, right this moment. When she stood this close to her, it almost felt like she had come home or had found that piece of her she had been searching for, for such a long time.

Elena turned her eyes towards Flora again, narrowing them a little by the first sentence, even if it was said with a chuckle and she seemed rather lighthearted - Elena still lived life on a note where she was somewhat careful about other people's responses and actions. But then the last thing Flora said in that sentence as well, well, Elena couldn't help but also say that she had felt it too. "I usually don't, very few people at least, but I know what you mean, where are you from again?" Elena then wondered. Because well she had known a lot of people back in Manchester so, perhaps Flora had been there? But it didn't make sense with the accent however, unless she just happened to be great at shifting them.

Not that she was going to get a lot of answers before she felt a strange sensation near by, familiarity but not in a good way. Elena turned her head around, seeing that way in the back her mother was sitting sipping coffee - which was odd if anything her mother despised iced coffee, but here she was. "Let's just take the coffees and go," she almost mumbled grabbing the coffee of hers from the counter then heading towards the door, clearly unhappy about something. Then her mother as well got up from the chair and followed them outside. "Is this really the way both you girls are going to greet your mother? I thought at least I taught you better manners than that," Elena stopped for a moment and then turned towards her mother. There was something about the thing she had just said, the first thing. You girls.

“I was born in Hong Kong, which is why my accent might throw you off a little,” she said with a small smile, and then something changed around them. Almost as if all air was sucked out of the room, making it hard to breathe. Flora licked her lips, trying to pinpoint where the feeling was coming from, but she couldn’t really make out who was responsible, and she didn’t recognise anyone either. “Okay?” she whispered, not putting much in it, before she turned and started walking out of the café, not knowing if it had been something she had done or said, but then a voice called behind them. And for a moment, Flora could have sworn she had heard the voice before. But where? Then she turned, and it was so clear, it was like looking into a mirror if she had just been twice as old.
Without even thinking about it, Flora grabbed Elena’s hand, and it was like their powers started to hum together in a powerful force. She didn’t like this, but she had no idea what else to do.

They had to get out of here, Elena hated looking at her mother, it made her uncomfortable in ways even getting tortured and hunted down by Calvin couldn't compare with. Her body was shaking and she knew at some point it was bound for her to lose control over her powers. So, she squeezed Fiona's hand a little bit. "Don't come any closer," she warned in an almost more high pitched voice on the edge of screaming, she was terrified that was clear. Their mother narrowed her eyes, then nodded, taking a step further back with a wave and a nod almost like a see you soon expression she then was gone as quickly she had appeared. Elena took a sharper breath in shaking her head, feeling the coldness shiver down her spine and out in her veins like ice. "Okay, maybe you should call that boyfriend of yours, just make sure she doesn't come back," she mumbled a little looking over her shoulder as the paranoia she thought she had fought off months ago returned.

Maybe it was the way that Elena started to shake, the small squeeze she placed around Flora’s hand, that made her act like this, and put a protective arm around her shoulders. Her eyes narrowed as she stared the woman down, ensuring she understood that these words were severe and that she should keep her distance.
When the woman disappeared, it was like she could breathe again. “Yeah, that might be a good idea” she whispered, only letting go of her after she was sure that Elena would be okay. Then she took her phone, and that was realised that she was shaking just as badly as Elena, and she had no idea who the person had been, other than she had called them her girls.
It took a few tries, but she finally managed to press the name that belonged to Elias, and with a shaky breath she put the phone against her ear. “Do you have someone you can call or a safe place to go?” she wondered, not wanting to leave Elena here to fend for herself, she could at least follow her home, wherever that was.