the bracelet

[unforgivably]

( "Silas is all about the veil between worlds. Bringing it down. Of course he'd have a magical maguffin to peek into the Other Side."

Bonnie drops it by the cabin.

Not because she trusts Damon or she's happy with him. She's another person who's decided the sire bond is all that's keeping Elena in his orbit. Not that she loves him or has any real feelings. Damon can't keep himself from the same thought process. It's why he puts as much distance between he and Elena as he can.

He holds the bracelet in his hands, a bracelet stolen from Atticus Shane's personal library.

"Professor Shane could never prove it worked, because he's not supernatural," Bonnie tells him. He only takes advantage of the supernatural, apparently. With Jeremy Team Hunter working on the map and Stefan taking up with Team Rebekah, Bonnie drops it to Damon. "Elena said you should try it." She tried to get Elena to see it, but she knew whomever she'd see might send her spiraling. Jenna. Her parents. Damon could test it.

With Little Gilbert and Pizza Jock upstairs, Damon sits on the picnic table. He hasn't put the bracelet on yet. He knows who he'd want to see. But, he's not proud of what he's done. Stolen his brother's girl? Did the selfish thing again? Ran away from Elena instead of confronting anything? She'd loved him, but having his blood in her system had perversed that love.

With a sigh, he finally slips the bracelet over his left wrist. He waits. He drinks from the six pack of beer sitting beside him. Well, from one bottle from it. )

Let's see if Professor Atticus Shane is better at finding relics than duping witches.

Comments

[unforgivably]

Really. You're going to watch Mystic Teenager TV? MTV? ( Shut up. He's thrown. He'll be funny again in a second. ) A lot's gone down that you'll be proud of. Can't wait to hear your play-by-play. What is your favorite storyline? Accidentally forcing the girl I love into loving me or taking one of those MTVeenagers and teaching him to not want to kill his sister? Wildcard. Anything Klaus.

[headmaster]

I wish I could say that was the worst thing you've done to a woman in recent memory. [But he doesn't press the issue. It's sticky, and hurting Damon won't make Elena less hurt. He loves everyone involved in this horrible situation.] I've been trying to talk to Jeremy, but you can probably imagine how well that's going over right now.

[What he doesn't do is entertain the idea of talking about any Mikaelson at the moment. The world would be so much better with fewer Mikaelsons in it.]

This can't be why you wanted to talk to me, though. What's on your mind?

[unforgivably]

Jeremy's not exactly vamp-friendly. He's probably avoiding thinking about you. That, or getting his freak on with Most Likely to Die in This Town Donovan. ( Bad jokes? Poor taste? All Damon. All the time. )

Wanted -- I just put on a bracelet, Ric.

( Admitting needing Ric? Wanting Ric? Missing Ric? Yeah. Not yet. He's still got some deflection in him yet. )

Can you hold things or is this a Buffy Season 7 situation?

[headmaster]

Is that all? Well maybe I was just hanging out in the right place while you were broadening your jewelry horizons.

[The deflection might have something to do with why Ric's voice sounds a little more distant right now, his figure less present. So much of magic is enforced by will. If Damon doesn't want the magic to work, it might not hook in strongly enough.]

Normally holding things isn't an option, but.

[He'll try nonetheless, reaching for a beer. His hand passes through it.]

[unforgivably]

Some guys take a hundred years to learn how to accessorize with carbon-dated bracelets.

( Fine, Ric. He was thinking about you, and hoping of all people that it would be you. And not ... who else could be hanging out on the other side. That he would carry out. Maybe Rose. But, she'd be good for, like, one laugh.

This is Alaric Saltzman. Good for hundreds.

The more Damon engages, the more he thinks. And the more he'd like Ric to be here with him. )

Swing and a literal miss. I'll enjoy it for the both of us. ( He takes a swig from his beer... accepting what he's about to say. ) I really miss you, buddy.

[headmaster]

[There's a small shift of fabric after Damon confesses to missing him, innocent on its own. But Alaric looks firmer, more solid. The beer he'd been trying to move rattles before settling in place.

That's different.]

Say that again.

[unforgivably]

I miss you, Ric. Is that what you want to hear? Do you want me to repeat the graveyard monologue? Because I'm fresh out of lanterns.

[headmaster]

[His hand clenches around the bottle in front of him. He nudges it, experimentally.]

Seems like I'll have a easier time staying here with you if you stop making it sound like you'd rather take a trip to the dentist.

[unforgivably]

I wouldn't. I've seen Veronica Mars. ( He turns his head, though. ) Stay. ( Raising his arm. ) Let's see what kind of joyride we can take this thing on. ( Whatever that means. )

[headmaster]

There's a magical artifact of indeterminate origin and you want to take it for a joyride.

[And this is why Damon is a fun friend. He reaches over toward the bracelet, to turn it and check it for engravings or identifying marks.]

[unforgivably]

It's me. Dead, alive, or in between, you're surprised?

( He watches Ric, realizing that he can touch and turn his bracelet. )

I can feel that.

[headmaster]

I'd be surprised if you weren't surprising.

[His hand withdraws when Damon comments about it.]

Well I wasn't asking you to talk about missing me for the fun of it.

[unforgivably]

So, the bracelet's the on switch but emotions are its' knobs.

( He doesn't look away, though, sliding down to sit on the picnic bench beside Alaric's ghost, feet hitting the ground. )

Think it's just mine? Maybe your commitment to our star-crossed bromance is as important as mine.

[headmaster]

Could be.

[ it's worth considering. And experimenting with. But if they push too hard, they might stumble into something terrible.

Damon is close, though, and Alaric takes his wrist in his hand again. ]

Of course I'm committed. I wouldn't be spending my afterlife watching you if I wasn't trying to find a way to help you make better choices.

[unforgivably]

Even the choices I didn't make.

( Only months ago had he shoved his blood into Elena's mouth hoping to save her from a death at Klaus' hands. And then here he is with Doctor Fell using his blood. That's why they're in this situation. Why Elena fell for him.

Sure, they'd 'met first,' and he'd erased that. But, there's his brother. And everything Elena has done since turned into a vampire is because of him.

Literally.

His hand comes to Alaric's wrist. )

I can feel you, too.

[headmaster]

[ what happened to Elena happened at a moment when choice was robbed from all of them. None of them were fully in control of their actions. Elena died because he needed to be stopped. He was as twisted up in everything as the rest of them.

But here, in this moment, something else is happening. His body is tangible to the touch. His wrist shifts until their palms are touching in a flutter of contact. ]

Been a long time since I could.

[ he wants to make a joke about holding hands. But it's more important to savor this moment of holding anything. Quiet pleasure without the distraction. ]

[unforgivably]

( His palm feels unreal. They were never this tactile when he was alive. Maybe a shoulder bump here and a glass clink there. But, what he would do to just grab onto his shoulders from the back, heading into one of their binge weekends. )

Yeah.

( His fingers clasp, intertwining from Alaric's to really see if he can hold it. Which he can. )

Do you think Professor Creepy does this? An Other Side booty call?

[headmaster]

Don't make it weird, Damon.

[Because they're nearly clutching one another's hands right now, intimate in a way neither of them likes to be. It feels like cheating. It feels like something he wants to keep doing, a craving that could grow ugly if he lets it.]

We don't know how long this might last. It's not draining anything out of you, is it?

[unforgivably]

Would you rather I be weird or sentimental?

( His thumb begins to trace circles, though, clearly willing to keep things weird enough.

If he's honest, there's always been a deeper connection with Alaric, one that goes beyond the Andie's and the Rose's. He loves him. Always freakin has. Don't ask how hurt he was when Alaric hated him after that time he'd snapped his neck. Until he'd apologized.

Alaric and him had something. Right now, especially. Have. )

No, Alaric. Your fingers aren't draining my life out of me. I'm no closer to desiccation.

[headmaster]

I'd rather you be here.

[It's always Damon. Other lives come and go, but Damon has been a constant. For good or bad, through betrayals and beyond. Damon was even there at the end, trying to break through to him.

He leans closer until their shoulders touch. It feels like letting go of a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.]