( march intro ) WELCOME TO THE PINES!

[officialnotice]

INTRODUCTION LOG

waking up

There was an accident. That's basically the only thing you know for certain. Maybe a car wreck - metal and broken glass everywhere, and the sirens and the screaming. Or maybe there was an explosion. Maybe your bike hit a rock and you careened uncontrollably off a mountain path. You can't can't quite make out the details, not who was at fault or why. Try as you might, the chaos is all you can remember.

It's also the last thing you remember from before you wake up here.

When you open your eyes, the accident is gone. Instead, you're in a hospital bed. You're sluggish, covered in a scattering of minor injuries you only vaguely remember getting, not to mention the vaguely-healed remnants of any wounds you might've had before.

It's a shame you won't be able to tell the difference between the two. Your memories are an indiscernible fog if not absent altogether, only a few standing out in your mind with any kind of certainty.

Whether or not the room's empty when you wake, it's not for long. Nurses bustle in, taking your vitals and asking your name and anything else you might remember. Welcome to Wayward Pines, they tell you. You'll make a full recovery here.

Much of what you say (especially anything unusual, anything about monsters or magic or outlandish technology) will earn placating speculation of head trauma “from the accident”. You'll be told to stay put, not to push yourself, and to wait for the doctor to clear you before you leave... Then you'll be left alone. The hospital's population is quadruple the usual, and you get the impression the nurses are working themselves ragged just running damage control. You can even leave your room without much fuss - whichever doctor or nurse intercepts you gets called away almost immediately to deal with something even more pressing.

Mingle, visit your fellow patients, even poke around for a few basic answers. Or maybe, maybe just stroll right on out the front door.

heading outside

One step outside and it's perfectly clear that your hospital gown simply isn't going to cut it for long. the sidewalks and buildings covered in snow and a crisp winter wind whipping at you through the thin cloth. It's like a scene out of a holiday greeting card or a snow globe, picturesque and nearly untouchable. And yet you're here. Touching it all. Dressed in nothing but a hospital gown. You should at least think about getting some mittens if you're going to keep, you know, touching it.

Trees line the street at regular intervals, carefully manicured and coated in a thin layer of pure white snow. Cars cruise by at a safe and respectable speed. Pedestrians spare you glances, some wary and some concerned.

This isn't even the picturesque city center, though a colorful nearby sign reads "Main Street" with an arrow pointing due south, followed in smaller font by a list of businesses you don't recognize and one that you might: Wayward Pines Police Department. Whether you asked for yourself or simply overheard, you've likely caught wind by now that all of your earthly possessions now lie with the Sheriff until you see fit to claim them.

Might as well head that way, right?

items reclaimed

So you've visited the Wayward Pines Police Department and reclaimed... well. Most of your stuff, anyway, though you can't quite remember what's missing. Best to put it out of mind, as you head down the steps toward the Main Street sidewalk. At the very least, pedestrians have stopped looking at you like you're sick or crazy. (Then again, depending on what you're wearing, maybe it's gotten worse.)

The sheriff also forked over what looks like the key to a house ("A cozy place to stay while you're here in town."), plus the address that it belongs to. You could check it out, see what kind of digs they're putting you up in.

Or you could stick around Main Street and sight-see a little. Also a perfectly viable option. Hell, maybe it'll jog your memory a little. A few of the shops do feel inexplicably familiar...

( ooc notes )

Welcome to the second newbie mingle log! We apologize for the delay.

This log is meant to cover characters' first day in Wayward Pines. For the most part, only the five memories detailed in your character's application are remembered throughout the duration of this log, although the first couple of false Wayward Pines memories might begin to surface (in those who've opted to utilize this mechanic) as the day wears on. These memories, as noted in the FAQ, feel very real and are accompanied by as much emotion or sentiment as a real memory would be.

Any questions about the log or its contents can be addressed to our FAQ or the intro log's designated Plurk.

Comments

[unforgivably]

Now, we're all cats. [ It's to Stefan, really, that he needs to question this very mixed metaphor. Then again, it makes sense if Elena's the dog, especially now, anyway. Because she's a dog again after being a cat for a few years now. Damon exhales, weighing his options. ]

At the risk of taking this to a less comfortable place for all of us, while not exclusively a brilliant tactic for playing inside the sandbox, no - [ He says, finally giving her a smile. ] this is not for the cameras. [ What else can he say? ] Stefan thinks you're not who you say you are. Elena had something, someone we both knew who greatly resembled her. She made all our lives a living hell once upon a time. And, speaking of hell, she's probably there right now. Which is why I told him it's not possible that you'd be her. What he doesn't realize is I'm the brother with amnesia experience. So, while he picks at every little mannerism, I know that you're scared and on edge. [ And maybe Damon's not so stupid himself. ] And doesn't that suck, Elena? When someone takes a bite out of your happiness, no matter how fleeting? Stefan really can be an emotional vampire when he wants to be. Cats and all.

[ He hates that he has to do this, but his brother does have the track record. He always recognizes Katherine. Damon had gotten better, but then she'd fooled them all for months. ]

Her name was Katherine.

[immoderation]

[ Stefan's face wipes clean of emotion, a blank slate as Damon seemingly goes off the rails, deviating from the unspoken plan. It masks the stab of hurt he feels at his brother's lack of faith in him, his unwillingness to entertain the notion that Stefan might be right. And for what, because it's impossible? Being in Wayward Pines should be impossible and yet here they all are.

Even when it becomes apparent that Damon might be playing the game after all, Stefan's eyes remain cold -- expression unreadable as he waits for the inevitable fallout of his brother's ridiculous gamble. ]

[abetment]

[ Cats. Dogs. Do they care about helping animal shelters as much as about helping the public's general healthcare needs?

Later, when she realizes she didn't connect with the meaning of the metaphor, how clear it is (cats), she'll be agitated over it. How sneaky they thought (no, actually were) they were being: she doesn't like being fooled. No matter at the moment, short on as memories as she is.

Watching Damon as he speaks, she hears a crystal quality in his voice that causes her to shine with relief. Maybe it's not that he's on her side, but on the side of what he thinks is correct: she can't yet know the intricacies of each of the Salvatore's personalities. She takes his smile as a return of his affection of her, Elena; nodding at the answer to her question, watching him when he really gets into the brunt of it.

The story makes her lips part, mouth opening slowly throughout the it. Listening to the facts that resonate with a tone that makes her believe that Damon is telling the truth. It's wild to hear, all the same. What does 'greatly resembles' amount to? Her jaw that's hanging almost snaps shut when he says that word. Vampire. No, it's a figure of speech. Emotional vampire.

Then. That name. The details associated with how little they actually think of Katherine blending in.

Her eyes expand, heart racing, eyes shutting as her head shakes. She certainly knows that name too. Okay, there's no hiding her initial reaction to it; maybe they won't be able to tell? Impulsively, she steps over to bring herself closer to Damon, at his front, reaching for his hand. ] I am scared. And I'm Elena. [ It's not smart to push at it when he's already confident that she's not Katherine, yet she's twisted all about and centering on the one idea in the web before her. She should be, therefore is, Elena. Still, the picture being painted here is not one that matches with her warped logic or her favor, and since there absolutely seems to be two different girls in question here...

Her teeth grind together a little, face angled to Damon, working to make eye contact. She goes on with traces of impatience in her voice. ] Someone must've messed with my head... [ Obviously, and it's as close as she's coming to admitting that she knows she's Katherine. A statement thrown out haphazardly, purely because of how confused she is and thinking there's a chance they could help her out of that.

They do not like Katherine do they, and what if she isn't actually Katherine? What if she's correct about her mind being screwed around with -- why else would both names be so firmly etched into her mind? Willfully posing as Elena to get what she wants? Hasn't come crashing back in, and won't, anytime soon. So, confusion. ] I can't prove it when I can't remember anything else. [ To which she glances over at Stefan, cautiously. ] Maybe I'll remember more the longer I'm around you [ the both of them. Or, maybe there are key items to prove who she really is, waiting to be recollected, from a sheriff she simply doesn't trust. Maybe. ]

[unforgivably]

[ He takes everything in. He's not unfeeling. Once upon a time, he'd pretended to be. But, not anymore. He does have a poker face, however. Elena grows more frantic, desperate. She takes his hand. He wants this to be Elena, above all else. Desperately. But, even as she tries to convince them, her tone isn't Elena. It's raspier, it's lower. It's colder.

His hand slips from hers, letting her fingers fall. ]

You're going to remember whether we're here or not. [ And that's the truth. It's not hateful, though everything in him is pressing a deep ceded hate down, one he was able to deal with at the second funeral of Katherine Pierce, the line of contempt. ] What you'll remember is whatever this place wants you to remember. It does mess with your head. But, not like this. [ He sets his jaw, looking to Stefan. ] Of all people, my brother knows I want you to be Elena. And how this is possible, well -- [ He slowly shakes his head. ] Your name's Katherine. You're impatient. Selfish. Entitled. [ He doesn't mean for every word to twist into her like a knife.

As he paces around her, circling ]

I believe that you want to be Elena. A part of you always wanted to be Elena and didn't we all learn a lesson from that.

[ He's keeping it together, not acting violently, bringing a hand to her neck. She ended up here like they did and maybe that's not on her. Maybe impersonating Elena isn't on her, either. It's this places idea of a joke. Oh well, he moves past Stefan over to the drawn blinds, fingers finding the rod, slowly sliding down. ]

Now, the question is what you do know. And there's the small matter of [ His fingers grasp and then twist, illuminating the part of the hallway they're all occupying, slats of light beaming down at the three of them, but more importantly, at who he knows now can't be Elena Gilbert.

And he feels no pleasure from the pain he's about to inflict. ]

[immoderation]

[ Although Stefan is the one who exposed her so readily, there is no inherent desire in him to watch Katherine suffering at his brother's hands. Relief floods through him at Damon's initial show of restraint, however short-lived that ends up being. Whether the sunlight will affect her or not is difficult to say; if she's human, as they last knew her, then it shouldn't harm her. But considering all the other idiosyncrasies of this place, such as the fact that she's here at all, Stefan wouldn't be surprised to find out that she's somehow been restored to her vampiric state of being.

In the event that she begins to burn, Stefan will -- acting purely on instinct rather than any conscious desire for mercy -- rush forward to pull her safely against his chest and back out of the sunlight, into the more shadowy parts of the hallway, a blur of movement so fast the camera won't be able to see. Whoever's watching on the other side of the lens might simply think the feed glitched. ]

[abetment]

[ The distance Damon creates through dropping her hand cuts right through Katherine, making her frown. She can't place where his tone is coming from, nothing to gauge off other than what she's seen from the two of them up until then, but she doesn't like it.

Her jaw sets when he calls her Katherine. Again. Lists off digs to her personality. Is that how she is? Well, it's not unlike how she's acting. Watching him through the close proximity of that pacing, there's the start of hope that fizzles immediately. That he's speaking clearly, that helps, but his words burn into her.

Heart jumping when she feels his fingers on her neck, she holds his eyes with hers, wondering what all is racing through his mind. As he moves away, she breathes steadily (only because she in, indeed, a vampire and it comes easily), but her chest aches. More distance, accompanied by a set of ideas she doesn't want to believe.

The absolute last action she'd expect from Damon is to cause her any injury, even as a test, and from that assurance she's come to believe combined with it all happening so quickly, the light hits and immediately starts to sear her skin. She has no time to register it. Shock that freezes her for a millisecond, and Stefan being one step ahead in anticipation of knowing what Damon is actually doing to do, are why she feels the protecting shade from him before she alone can dart away to get out of the sunlight.

The pain being twofold, the evident physical combined with a betrayal of Damon sinking to believe she's not Elena, there's a squalling reverberation from her lips as she clutches onto Stefan's shirt, staring up into his eyes after they stop. What is there to say, after Damon slammed those feelings and thoughts down; two against one, and if she really wants their help, maybe telling them the truth makes sense, at that point. What choice does she have? After a lull where her constitution is regathered, she sighs. ] When I woke up, I didn't know my name until a nurse told me, and then I remembered that I was supposed to be Elena. If either of you know why I'd think that, I'm all ears. [ There's Katherine. Entitlement, impatience. She still wants their aid and support, their friendship and bond, but hello bitterness over being literally burned. Selfish girl. ] Elena, who I also don't remember anything about. But, I wasn't, don't feel like I'm lying... [ She can't remember all of the connections she's meant to feel to Katherine instead of Elena, or vice versa.

Well, she's not going to move away from Stefan first, she keeps speaking, looking over to Damon with a heat in her eyes. As long as she's close to Stefan, she feels more secure, too, so moving isn't what she wants. ] Damon showed up and thought I was Elena, so what was I supposed to think?

[ Do they believe her, now that she's finally telling the truth? ]

[unforgivably]

[ Stefan blurs in, pulling Katherine to him, out of harm's way, searing pain, the cry she elicits muffled against his brother's chest. The sizzle of skin lessens, redness lightens until her pale complexion returns. Believe it or not, he hadn't meant that as an act of torture. Katherine wasn't tied to a chair. She had her freedom. Being a new (if unaware) vampire is why she didn't move, why she was frozen in shock and pain. And here and now, Damon becomes the bad brother all over again, int trying to the point they all needed to be made.

He looks to Stefan for the explanation, because his brother has decided that Katherine's worth saving. And maybe she needed it. A few more seconds without moving and she could've been gone from their lives all over again. That little bit of hope and incredulous belief remains. God forbid this was a more frustrated Elena, but she admits who she believes she was supposed to be - and not why.

This is on him. He jumped to the Elena conclusion. Stefan chooses Katherine, in a way. Say what you want about Katherine, but other than stealing Elena's body and liking hers to her doppelganget's, Katherine never once meant to kill Elena. She needed her alive. And there was the pesky cure incident. Several months of incidents.

He knows Katherine is telling the truth, because he woke up here only a month before. But, this being the case shuts the door on the possibility of Elena Gilbert. Elena Gilbert, who didn't deserve her fate. Elena is still sleeping soundly. Hopefully. Bonnie is alive.

And now, so is Katherine. ]

That you were a lying vampire. [ It isn't disdain he speaks with. He's not sure what she knows. Malia didn't. He happened to. As did Stefan. ] I believe Stefan can take it from here. Explain a few of the odds, the ends, all the little ... gory details.

[ He can't do this. He didn't want this. How did everything turn on him so quickly. Only ten minutes ago, he was convinced this was the love of his life.

He doesn't blame Katherine, for once. But, he won't apologize. Not today. Maybe not ever. He should. He knows he should. But he's the one that let light in. Stefan's the one who took shelter with her. His shame rises, the shame he's felt all his natural born life for one reason or another, the familiar feeling of doing what's needed but being hated for it.

"Damon. You didn't have to interfere."

Disappointment. Thinking he'd done the right thing, for Katherine, standing there. Younger, but somehow exactly the same. Holding a crown of some sort in her capable hands. Her hair in waves, perfectly curled. He'd do anything for her. She never needed it. ] You were disqualified. [ He can't help but say it out loud as the memory coalesces, old, fictional but familiar shame bubbling up. An impossible memory because he and Stefan met Katherine in 1864 and not in this town, not in high school. He didn't grow up with her. He grew up with his brother in Mystic Falls. ]

[immoderation]

[ Stefan nods faintly, accepting Damon's decision to leave without an argument. It's probably for the best anyway, considering his brother and Katherine get along like oil and water at the best of times. ]

I'll see you at home.

[ There's no negative judgment audible in his steady, even tone; he's not rebuking Damon or threatening a lecture of some kind. His words can simply be taken at their face value. He will remain behind and clean up this mess. Not because Damon really fucked up that terribly or because he feels particularly beholden to Katherine. But in a way, just like she isn't Elena, she isn't really Katherine right now either.

What she is, is a girl that's scared and alone without her memories (or at least, without most of them).

He's expecting his brother to make good on his words and leave but he appears to stop as suddenly as he started. Stefan cocks his head to the side, distracted from the fact that he's still nearly embracing Katherine. ]

... Damon? What are you talking about?

[abetment]

[ Any control of the situation has completely fallen from her grasps, if she had any to begin with. She makes a face nearly like derision over being a lying vampire (she's not lying! ...anymore.)

Unclear on whether or not she wants them both there any longer or not, she tries to process how Damon speaks as though he's going to step out of this, immediately, unless she or Stefan verbally intervene. She has words at the ready. About not knowing if they knew of vampires or not. What all vampires are. At least with Stefan's swooping in to save her, that question has been answered. From the sunlight experiment too, but Stefan literally showed himself to be capable of the quick speed Katherine herself knows she has (from earlier, right after she woke up.)

She looks between them again. Gory details. She turned them into vampires; that answers that, then. In the form of a crashing memory that ties together why she knew their names (or, so she assumes.) Could her brain please get it together and provide this information in a more timely fashion? She plans to speak, to tell Damon what's on her mind, to ask him what she should have done. Until Stefan responds, and she peers back to him. It's all falling away from her, and she aches at the thought of Damon leaving. There is a small grace, a warmth, in feeling like Stefan is actually going to stay with her, and it softens that ache. Then, those final words are tacked on.

Her brows furrow, features rising with perplexity. She doesn't move, not at first, her lips pursing out, as if she might say 'what,' a simple question popping out right after Stefan's apt words. ] Disqualified? From what? Who? [ If this is a memory that will creep up for her, she needs more than that. A memory that would make as much sense (more, probably, with the power of these fake memories) to her as telling her how old the brothers were, where they actually met -- for that day, anyway, she's not meant to know more or feel any more solid in the foundation of her true history.

It's only then that she pulls out a bit from where Stefan brought her to safety, the movement actually making her press in closer to his chest, looking over at Damon with uncertainty and concern. ] Are you okay? [ This place likes to mess with thoughts, memories, peoples' brains, right? What if it's done something to him? Plus, she genuinely cares -- or, she feels like she does. ]

[unforgivably]

[ Until now now, his memory retrieval hasn't been ill-timed, but this latest hint of his fake life before throws him, so much so that he uttered that line to the both of them, as if they're all experiencing the same vivid memory. But, they aren't. It's Damon's lot in life to find his girl and lose her, and find another before realizing that first girl never wanted him, anyway. And that's all Katherine, alone. Katherine needs help, she needs answers and maybe under different circumstances he'd be the one to help her. He'd taken her in when she'd come down with a cold. But, all bets were off when she took Elena's life. He knows this Katherine isn't that Katherine - at least not presently. She's not Elena, either, but she's something different. Something new that, if she stayed like this for more than two weeks he may be able to learn to live with. If she drops the straight hair.

That's a piece to the puzzle that doesn't fit, if the piece exists at all. Even if this is newly resurrected Katherine, why would anyone take the time to straighten her hair? Unless she hadn't died, or had been brought back in some other way.

Everything's possible, isn't it?

They both stare. It's as if he's grown a second head, or told them he was going to go enjoy a nice salad and a rosé while watching the sunset.

He can't explain it, not now. It won't help anything. He's gone too far for today. He did cross a line. (Granted, this line was ill-defined, and he tip-toed across it, but across stays the operative word. ]

No. But, for once I can't blame you, can I?

[ Not completely.

Not at all.

He sidesteps his brother and Katherine, whom he's still embracing, and leaves them there. In time, he could come to apologize. To this Katherine. If he could stomach seeing her again. The hair would help. Instead, he has blood to transport.

Possibly a bottle to fall into. ]

[immoderation]

[ After Damon leaves, Stefan abruptly lets go of Katherine although he doesn't yet step away from her. She might not believe so but in Stefan's estimation that went quite well as far as a temperamental Damon was concerned. ]

Give him some time. [ He finally advises, to break the silence that's fallen in the wake of his brother's departure. It's possible, probable even, that Damon's reception of her won't improve with all the time in the world. Under other circumstances, Stefan might be right there alongside him. But in a town like this, he recognizes that they can probably use all the allies they can get. It's one of a few reasons he's still willing to take his chances with her even after everything she's done.

In roughly two weeks her memories will return and her behavior at that time will either make or break this shaky alliance. But it's easy to offer a hollow comfort now when she doesn't know any better than to review the very long list of her crimes against them and why she shouldn't hold her breath for such an outcome. ]

[abetment]

[ Watching Damon go leaves her distraught: a feeling she'd swear is sincere. She doesn't know what to expect anymore, not that she had any grand grasp on that at all after waking up. Stefan parts somewhat and says that. Her eyes meet his again. She can't help but be dejected. ]

Does he always do that? Walk away when things get hard. [ Obviously, she's incapable of making real digs at either of them. She barely knows anything about either brother, much to her dismay. Still, she realizes the question is fairly moot. She'll learn about what each of them are really like as time goes on, and hopefully her memories will surface sooner than later. ] I didn't mean to hurt him, or you, Stefan. Really. [ Here stands the brother who is the reason doubt was cast on her being Elena, and still...a want for him to not be displeased with her trickles in. ] Do you believe me? [ A sincere question. No artifice, no heavy tone, no elevation implying that she's piling on the want for sympathy. She just needs to know what he's thinking. ]