entranceway | 2 ☽ text

_{[If she didn't ask, he wouldn't have to think about answering one way or the other. The only way he gets to rewrite history is if he doesn't have to own up to it--forgetting isn't an option, and neither is pretending the catalyst for all this craziness hadn't happened.

Adam takes a while to answer, too, for similar reasons. Forming the words isn't so much a matter of trusting someone with sensitive information--it'd happened and it just goes to show that not all non-human things are nice and cuddly--but knowing that it's a burden no one deserves to have to imagine, even in regards to someone Cora barely knows. There's also the thought that he's going to be told in not so many words to get over it again like with Lena, that he's still the narrow-minded, awful person who won't give God's creatures big and small a chance because his fears still happen to keep him up at night.

Texting puts a certain distance between himself and Cora, but nevertheless he doesn't want to argue a position in a fight that shouldn't even happen. He doesn't think he's wrong to feel vulnerable in his human skin after what he has to say.]}

No, we didn't. It was me and my mom. They got us both, but angels can bring people back like this place can. They said if I helped them by giving Michael a body, I'd see her again.

_{[Once he stops and reads that part of the message over again, he sees how ridiculous it looks, like something Dean Koontz would write in the shitty first draft of a novel. Welcome to his life. Thinking of her and the angel's lies still lands like a kick to the gut, but there's one tiny glimmer of hope and that's for every year of suffering he's endured, she's had an equal number of happy ones in Haven, hopefully never knowing what's happened to him. There are other pills that go down more bitter.

At least she's safe from any more monsters, aside from angels. Adam can't say the same for himself.

Skimming Cora's description of a werewolf woman who keeps claws instead of proper nails doesn't exactly make Adam want to start hanging out with that kind of crowd--he knows it takes all kinds, but seriously. Humanity, the kind of humanity that comes to mind when he thinks of his family now lost, isn't something he'd think a person would ever want to forget, for anything.]}

Why would you forget if it's once a month? Isn't that how it works?

_{[But when no supernatural creature or person around him is really what he expects, he can only ask.]}

[ there are no happy endings, it seems. cora had hoped that adam would text her back and prove her gut wrong, that whatever cannibal monsters he had sat down for dinner with hadn't made him their dessert. but now she understands why adam's not exactly keen on becoming a member of the book club. she now wouldn't be surprised if he never would. but she doesn't think about what it could mean if he and her continue to be thrown together and he finds out that she's an honorary member of said club. ]

I'm sorry.

[ she really is, too. she said once that losing pack isn't like losing family, it's like losing a limb, and she can only imagine that the loss of his mother was like cutting off one of his arms or legs. it's kind of difficult to bounce back from such a loss. but she tries to put together the angel information he's given her, as well as the new stuff now. so, michael's an angel that needed adam to host his spirit, the angels promised him his mother's resurrection and a possible reunion (however the hell death works, cora's not even certain), but, most likely, played him like a fiddle. ]

I'd do anything to get my mom back. Let an angel do whatever it is angels do ... You're still waiting for them to make good on their end of the bargain?

[ she's hoping he is. cora doesn't know what she'd do if talia or laura were dangled right in front of her. if the puppet master said jump, she'd ask how high. and if she did what they wanted and she didn't end up with her mom or sister back, she's pretty sure her golden eyes would turn bright blue. ]

[ she thinks about not answering his question on werewolves, but where he's given something of himself, it's only fair that she does, too — and without simply skimming the surface, either. ]

You can shift at will. Newly bitten wolves are prisoners to the moon until they build a tolerance for it. You can skip a cycle sometimes. As long as you're not cut off from the moon's effects, you can build a tolerance to the desire to shift when it's full. I don't think it's easy to forget you're a wolf. But it's not like you lose control because you are one. If you're feral, it's because you chose to be.

[ ... she reads. she did not experience being laced in a room with moonstone for three months, she just reads a lot of books. ]

_{[His head is a snake pit, but there's a difference between being distracted by your own damage and being stupid, the latter of which he's not. There are topics you can guess at, topics you might know a little about, but they both sound exactly the same right now, talking about something they both have personal experience in, enough to be convinced of what they know.

This doesn't seem like just academic research to him, but then there's been something off this whole conversation, and even before this, too. He can see it more easily now that he doesn't have starry-eyed naivety convincing him to believe everything a person tells him without questioning them like he had with Zachariah. If not for the way she'd asked him earlier, he might have asked her if she was involved with hunters.

Adam's not positive what her deal is yet, which keeps him on the fence.]}

They lied. But it's all right.

_{[It's not actually, but for Cora to imply she doesn't have a mother, either, and apologize... It's not her problem, and it is all right for her not to say anything or try to offer some kind of boiler plate platitude like you're supposed to.]}

How do you know all this stuff?

It's not. If they promised you your mom, they should've held their end of the bargain. Angels aren't supposed to lie. They're not supposed to be monsters.

[ just like uncles aren't supposed to kill their nieces, but, hey, that's how the world's chosen to spin. everything sounds a little messed up on both of their ends — angels who commit sins and family members who betray family. alphas are meant to protect their pack, but seeing deucalion and kali and ennis speak of killing their betas like it meant nothing to them, and then to hear that angels don't give a crap about anyone but their own agenda, whatever that may be, when it's meant to be about doing the man upstairs work of keeping peace on earth and blah blah blah, it really pisses cora off. ]

[ even though cora's slightly reassured that, maybe, adam won't lose his shit and go tattle on her to one of his hunter pals, cora still doesn't want to say oh, by the way, i'm a werewolf. it's not something one says in text, anyway. and considering everything they've spoken about, even though angels are real and he's shrugging off something that makes her want to punch something, she still isn't positive he'll react well. ]

I don't come from a home where everything is roses and sunshine. Angels might not exist, but other things do.

[ it's an answer? hopefully one he'll believe. when your home town throws you a darach, you kind of learn how to kill it when it starts sacrificing your friends. maybe adam understands that. ]

_{[She's only saying what he's thinking, what he's thought each and every day for as long as he can remember. Should've, should've, should've. But what should be, isn't.]}

It was never about me. They were never going to help me because them and their boss don't care about us.

_{[And with Cora here with family, all the more reason for her to play it safe and steer clear of them, as far as Adam's concerned. Between the angels and the Winchesters, there's already been enough collateral damage.

Adam sees now it's not roses and sunshine anywhere except for the people who are lucky enough not to find out what the world's really like. He understands that, but still not Cora's stake in it.]}

But you're not a hunter.

_{[Not a question, not really.]}

Boss as in God?

[ it leaves a really sour aftertaste in cora's mouth that the supposed good guys aren't even good. aren't angels meant to be selfless? isn't that the whole christianity spiel? she still doesn't understand why adam, but she figures it's a conversation for another time. she can barely wrap her head around angels existing, angels being here, and angels having screwed this guy over just because he didn't fit into whatever plans they were devising. ]

[ cora thinks of leaving it at that, but she feels compelled to answer — or not so much as answer, as whatever she says will only bring forth more questions. questions she doesn't particularly want to answer, not with a guy who knows hunters or has a very heavy reason to dislike things that go bump in the night. ]

No.

Boss as in Michael. He was running things before hunters took him out.

_{[He supposes that's true enough. Sam and Dean call themselves hunters, and they'd wanted from the beginning to stop Michael and Lucifer from picking vessels and fighting. The parts he's leaving out just happen to involve Michael being physically ousted from his throne and dragged into Hell by one of said hunters, and Adam along with him.

He could say Michael had been fired from his job, but he doesn't have it in him for hellfire puns.

Adam does, however, always have room for more questions until someone stops texting first. That's the beauty of not really being friends, and not really knowing each other. No one's obligated to share more than they want to, or keep on answering messages.]}

Are you worried about the ones here because of them?

You're going to have to draw me a diagram of the angel job hierarchy. Can't say my religion lessons paid off. But why can't the hunters take out the angels who are here? They're dangerous. They should be put down.

[ if angels are here, and there are hunters who have dealt with them, why the hell haven't the angels been put down? is there any concern for what they're capable of? even though cora's still digesting all the information, she finds herself wondering why no one is doing anything about it. are they just going to end up finding the bodies? is this beacon hills and boyd all over again? ]

[ cora's uncertain as to whether adam thinks she's one of the monsters he despises, or if she's simply like him, a human girl caught up in a mess greater than her own. she's going with the latter, hoping that luck is finally on her side and he won't be smart enough to put her werewolf interest together with her fear of hunters. people have been mistaken for werewolves before; it's not new to think that they've been put down without any investigation done by hunters. ]

Yes. Hunters are hunters. They kill before they think.

[ except for allison argent. she's the exception. but she's from the same blood that had murdered cora's, and she's not quite sure how she feels, thinking hunters aren't bad people when they have caused her so much pain. she lost so many limbs that day of the fire that she's still surprised she's capable of walking. ]

They'll just come back here, remember? And it's not really them, you're hurting the people they're possessing.

_{[Adam understands that much, even if he has only an indistinct picture of what side of the fence Cora's on.

Not even he knows what he thinks right about now. With the Cage in his recent past, he's tempted now more than ever not to bother thinking too hard about anything that doesn't concern his survival. One foot in front of the other, that's it, that's all he should be focused on. Getting involved in situations where he doesn't understand and doesn't belong seems like asking for another Zachariah to take advantage of him these days.

He's tempted, too, to wonder if these other monsters deserve protection if monster hunters have a reason for going after them.]}

Seems like there's a lot of that going around.

_{[Hunters, supernatural creatures, Tom... So maybe some hunters aren't any better, but no one's guilt-free.]}

Edited 2014-04-11 03:11 (UTC)

[ she's about to say kill them the number of times it takes for them to stay dead before she even reads the rest of his statement. nothing is ever simple, not in wonderland or outside of it. ]

Can't you just exorcise the angel? Or would that kill the person they're using?

[ she imagines that the exorcist rules must apply to angels. angels and demons both possessing defenceless, innocent humans. how else is one meant to evacuate earth and go back up to heaven? but she wonders if they need a priest or man of god to toss those angels back to their rightful homes or if the people they're driving are merely stuck along for the ride until someone decides that killing them to rid the earth of an angel is the way to go. ]

[ but cora's kind of relieved that adam hasn't pressed on hunters and her experiences with them. while she still thinks a house fire caused by arsonists lead by a hunter can go either way — she's human or she's something else — she's glad she doesn't have to type out the details to that particular story. ]

Wonderland seems to have that effect on things. Sometimes makes me wonder if it's the true bad guy in all of this rather than the Queen of Hearts.

I don't know about the exorcisms. No one's mentioned anything.

But Wonderland's not changing who people are around here, it's just bringing out their real colors.

_{[Monsters, and even hunters, could be killers with or without Wonderland's influence--Wonderland's not special that way. The hunters she's got a bone to pick with could still be assholes, and her werewolves could still be as bad as ghouls in their own way and Cora's just covering their asses.

Either way, Adam's not willing to put all of the blame on Wonderland or the Queen of Hearts for making people bad. He likes Cora enough that he won't ask about what she won't talk about, but he's not going to forget that there's more to the story and let his guard down anytime soon.]}

You really think that?

[ maybe it's the fact that the people she tends to surround herself with — the very few, anyway — are people who she considers good. derek doesn't have it in him to use and abuse his family like peter does, nor does scott seem to have the ability to even kill a fly. out of all the kids in the pack, cora wouldn't be surprised if isaac had turned out twisted with how his shoulders matched hers with the weight of carrying the entire world on their shoulders. but maybe cora's natural ability to be anti-social has saved her from experiencing wonderland's talent in revealing people for who they are and not what they want to be perceived as. she's too overwhelmed with the fact that she doesn't have to fight the world as much as she did back in beacon hills. ]

[ or maybe adam just has bad luck. ]

_{[He does, actually, but then it's the truth. Actions speak louder than words.]}

People have to make hard decisions around here. Save yourself, or save someone else.

You could have ignored me plenty of times and you didn't. Not everyone's bad news, it's just easier to tell when the chips are down.

_{[People's true colors don't have to be the kind of black and blood-red colors he'd experienced at his father's real identity, the angels' deception, and his brothers' betrayal. When he's needed it, some people have helped him at cost to themselves, like Cora. Like Daryl. Like Emma. Like Jo. All people who could've walked away like Sam and Dean had walked away.

And when you no longer have anything to call your own, it's easier to see kindness for what it is, even if the flip side is fearing the same kind of cruelty and sadism that ripped it all away from you in the first place.]}

You don't think people are capable of saving themselves and another person?

[ it's probably not as black and white as she's reading it to be. cora's always thought she approached things like they were technicolour — peter's a bad guy, but she had trusted him enough to team up with him in their search to see if derek had been the werewolf who had crawled his way out of the suicidal warehouse. it's not the same, though, not with what adam's saying. cora thinks back to the tunnels, of how she could've left lena to shake in her self-deprecation of losing whatever it was that gave her an edge in order to save herself, but she'd lifted the girl with all the human strength she wasn't used to and pushed her to move forward. and derek had died right in front of her, doing what he did best — placing himself before her. if it came down between her and someone else, cora's not so positive on what path she would choose — if she had a choice (and the chance) to pick. ]

You were going to walk into trouble. I couldn't just leave you to be zombie lunch.

_{[He's heard something like that before, from Dean. He'd believed it, and he'd hoped, and he'd prayed, even after Michael had taken the fall, even after Sam had disappeared. Saved, he now knows.

Good intentions have limits.]}

Not everyone thinks like that.

Then maybe they're people not worth knowing.

[ because it's simple like that, clearly. peter can manipulate his way to the top of the ladder and cora still looks at him like he's her uncle, even though she knows he'd throw her under the bus the moment he got the chance. so much easier said than done. ]

Just try to stay away from zombies, though. Not sure I'll be around to turn them off from wanting to bite you the next time they fall through the rabbit hole.

_{[Or human, he thinks as he reads the first part of her reply. Monsters don't seem to be very interested in pacifism, but he also accepts that this is a generalization as much as putting all of your trust into people, even the heroic people, the people you're supposed to rely on most like your blood. Monsters, humans... neither of them are completely trustworthy. They've covered that point and agree on it.

That doesn't leave a lot of options.

Adam supposes that in the end, the point is you can't trust anyone these days. That's exactly why Cora doesn't want to expose everything about herself through text message, isn't it?]}

I wonder if that's not most people.

_{[Be lied to as much as Adam has, and you get tired of it. But there she goes, fighting against his cynicism with the decency he's stopped expecting in all instances to protect himself from more Sams and Deans.]}

I'm trying to. Once bitten, twice shy. Don't go walking into trouble yourself. Avoid big brother's lectures and not get them, right?

_{[Not putting a smiley face is probably saves the monster snack humor in there from becoming too demented.]}

[ he has a point. isn't that why cora makes it a point to not get to know anyone within wonderland? there's the pack, and then there's the few outliers who have gotten beneath her skin and wedged themselves there like permanent fixtures. lena and adam seem to have broken through her desire to remain that of an omega when it comes to forming packs outside of the one from beacon hills. he says not too many people are worth knowing, and a good portion of cora knows it's true. ]

[ but if anyone's due for a lecture, it's derek, having died almost too many times for cora to consider it okay. but she takes what he says to heart — he doesn't seem like the type to wish people a good day unless he really means it. ]

Something tells me he's going to give them to me, regardless of what I do. But thanks. I'll do my best.

_{[There must be some kind of theory for circumstances like these, some explanation for why people who've been hurt badly and fear ever suffering the same again end up circling around each other despite everything, like a werewolf from a broken family and and illegitimate child without one.

Misery does love company.]}

If we make it til then, one day you'll have to tell me more about your werewolves.

[ she's not too sure what to make of it. curiousity? gaining information to use for ill intent? cora's a little too paranoid on revealing more of her furry hand than she already has. ]

Maybe. If you don't get scared.

[ monsters and angels and werewolves, oh my. if adam can take on an angel, despite what may have actually went down, something tells her he may not be afraid of the big bad wolf that comes knocking on his door. nonetheless, if cora has her way, she has no plans to tell him more. she's already said a little too much. ]

Try not to die. I have good stories.

[ incentive? ]

_{[When it comes to why Adam wants to know, it's a little of both. Gaining information to use to his advantage is something he'd failed to do once and not a mistake he cares to make again.]}

Try me.

_{[Prolonged stay in the Cage has given him perspective. Even after what Wonderland's put him through, he's not the same terrified kid from the ghoul attack, he can say that much.

As long as her stories don't kill him, he's willing to hear them.]}

It's not on my list of things to do.

Good. :) How much do you even know about werewolves?

[ she figures she might as well ask — considering she knew false information about angels, according to adam's home-world knowledge, it doesn't seem as though it would hurt to know what kind of things adam believes werewolves to be. even though she has no desire to tell him, it doesn't hurt to be prepared in case he's a little insistent on her telling him a bedtime story. ]

_{[Hadn't he already made the answer pretty clear?]}

I didn't think about them being real until here.

_{[After that first brush with the supernatural, there hadn't been a whole lot of time or interest on his part to study the monster encyclopedia.

Hell hadn't exactly offered a great mentorship program, either, but if Cora is assuming he'd survived his little stint as an angel vessel, maybe he assumes he's a little more well-versed in monsters now. Too bad he's not.]}

[ how can she not assume that he's alive? while he's hammered into her that angels are bad and angels shouldn't be trusted and to stay the hell away from them, she figured while adam is someone who hadn't survived the hannibal lector of monsters, he had to have survived the ones with the halos and wings. she's not exactly a positive person, but she really does want to believe in that. no one can have that much tragedy in their lives, even though she sometimes think derek embodies that possibility too well. ]

Hopefully you never meet one and they stay blurred between being fictional and real for you.

[ #too late. even though cora paints werewolves with a positive brush, she has a feeling she'll have a difficult time convincing a kid who was monster chow that they're fluffy, docile puppies. ]

_{[No.

No, that can't happen. Definitely too late.

Adam's willing to tolerate some things, and give someone who's helped him more latitude than most, but one thing he can't do is turn a blind eye. Cora's suggesting he go back to being food, prey for barely-defined phantoms that live in storybooks. If he doesn't know, he'll never be anything but prey.]}

It's a little late, you already said they're here. I'd rather know ahead of time.

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pretend these teen wolf werewolf facts are correct in case the show proves me wrong

DEAL.

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