003 | [ video / action ]

[haleyeah]

[ The feed cuts on and Peter is seated in a rather comfy looking chair. He's in his room for the time being. He never really was sure what to do about Derek's presence in this place, but he thought he had time to at least speak to the boy. Though the fact that he's no longer here may work in his favor. There's still a part of him that will miss him. Maybe not completely, but a small part hidden underneath all his failed power attempts. Derek is his family. One of the last remaining pieces. Cora and him are the last ones standing. He doesn't particularly care for the others. He doesn't care so much anymore. He's made his allies and there's absolutely nothing they can do to change that. ]

It would seem my nephew departed sometime ago.

[ He's only just speaking about it now. Things have been hectic and he hasn't exactly been sure what he was feeling. ]

I believe some of you knew him. His name was Derek Hale.

[ Peter takes a moment rub the center of his forehead. ]

Cora, if you're out there then I believe we should talk. I know I haven't been the best uncle in the past, but we're the last Hale's standing. [ Malia told him she didn't want to be called a Hale, but he doesn't really respect guidelines. Or rules. Or wishes of other people. ] Other than my daughter. [ Okay so he won't say her name. ] We're gonna need each other now more than ever.

[ He takes a breath to steady himself. Whether it's all part of the act is unknown. Peter lies like no one else. It's easy to put on a show when you've been doing it your whole life. ]

Most of you know me as JR and while that was my name as a boy I do tend to go by Peter in some circles back home.

Comments

[resent]

[ unfortunately, cora will never see it that way. all she can see is the distance wedging its way between herself and those from home. how many more times must they go back to beacon hills before they're done with her completely? she's merely a ghost, as she's always been. ]

No. [ it's clear by the biting of her tone that that is very much a lie. ] I'm just really happy the only family I have left took five months to seek me out.

[haleyeah]

[ It takes a lot to shame Peter Hale. Cora seems to do it with a flawless ease. Perhaps he's been spending too much time around the good people of this place. Mary Margaret was certainly one of the ones that made Peter uneasy when she tapped into his emotions without even really trying. ]

You had Derek, Cora. [ He clears his throat. ] Who isn't my biggest fan. Nor is his little pack. I was trying to cut the collateral damage in half. When I heard he was gone though--I'm trying.

[resent]

And look where that's gotten me. [ alone. it's not fair of her to blame derek for his disappearance, but it's easier to target him than it is wonderland. what can she do to wonderland but piss off a mansion that's sentient? it's easier to be angrier at him, as she had been when he'd found her. he hadn't tried hard enough. that's the easiest excuse to pull and latch onto. ]

[ even though he may say he's trying, cora requires more physical evidence. while he may be willing to give it to her now, cora prefers to be an immovable rock not even an alpha of peter's calibre could ever hope to move. it's confusion riddled with anger that has her not wishing to budge at all. ] You want something. [ isn't that how uncle peter operates? now derek's gone, he's free to move. but would her brother have really stuned their uncle so badly? it's another thing to add to her list beneath the column of unknown. ] What is it?

[haleyeah]

[ Not just Derek. All of them. They were all enemies of Peter. They weren't just going to play nice when so many people here didn't know the truth about Peter. That Peter killed Laura. That Peter slaughtered "innocent people" for his own selfish gain. Peter killed those people because they burned him. Those men deserved it. Kate Argent deserved it ten times over. He doesn't feel bad about what he did to them. He will never feel bad about that. ]

Think, Cora. What could I possibly want?

[ There's nothing here that he's actively seeking out. Just alliances with those not from Beacon Hills. Perhaps power as well, but that will come later. Scott's the only Alpha left. He'll find a way no doubt. ]

I don't want anything. I just wanted to talk.

[resent]

We're talking.

[ it can't be as simple as that. nothing is ever simple when it comes to uncle peter. she may never, ever understand his motivations for killing laura. she may never, ever understand why he is the man he is. the fire comes to mind for the latter, but cora had lost so many within the flames, too, and she hadn't turned to murdering her remaining family members as a way to deal with it. she knows she has to watch her own back around him. he's capable of doing what he had done to her sister right back to her if he sees it fit. ]

[ and that's the part that terrifies her. ]

[ when did uncle peter change? when did he stop being the uncle she liked to hang around as a kid when derek and laura were off ignoring her? when did he become someone she couldn't recognise? derek was easy to reconcile; the young and energetic boy he'd been had transformed into a brooding and grieving man. but peter? ]

[ it's something she wants to talk about, but the answers frighten her more than a pack of alphas. the memories from when she'd been twenty-seven are blurred, but regardless of how many times she tries to dig for the true memory, she knows she'll return home to a hospital bed and uncle peter by her side. ]

[ but her expression remains pinched with anger. it's easy to manipulate her face into it with her own confusion and inner turmoil battling it out inside of her. ] Does your daughter know you're here?

[haleyeah]

[ Talking. Glaring. Strained--whatever this is. He's not entirely certainly what to make of her attitude right now. He doesn't know what she expects of him. If he had shown his face on the first day then there is no doubt in Peter's mind that Derek would have shoved killed him just to prove a point. Especially with the fact that people don't stay dead here. Stiles and Scott would have made a network post about the villainous Peter Hale's arrival and it would have been game over for him. He couldn't trust that she wouldn't side with Derek when it seemed to be all she wanted to do back home. Even after he sat with her in the hospital.

He can visibly see his niece, but he can't really see her. Not like how he remembers her. She was just a child though. Everyone was once just a child. Bad people do bad things for good reasons and sometimes they do them for bad reasons. Most would say Peter did bad things for bad reasons. Kate Argent burned his entire family alive. Men, women and children. They just expected him to let her get away with it without experiencing pain? They were the crazy ones. What he did to her was well deserved. ]

Good. You've met Malia. [ He pauses. ] And yes. I spoke to her when she arrived. Apparently she knew who I was already. My anonymity became a problem with her. She's struggling. I don't think she understands that I can actually help her.

[resent]

[ cora thinks to ask where he'd been when she'd been struggling, but showing any sign of vulnerability in front of someone who will, no doubt, tear into it and use it for his own purposes would be the worst decision she's ever made — aside from apparently letting derek abandon her in south america once again. it probably would've been easier if she had remained oblivious to uncle peter being in wonderland. his scent may have been faint around the mansion, but it'd been easy to write it off as wishful thinking. ]

[ had she wanted her uncle here with her? it's a loaded question she's afraid will blow up in her face if she were to truthfully answer it. being alone for six years has left her hardened and older than her eighteen years. it's made it difficult to let those she's meant to easily let in in. following derek around like the sheep the pack are had been difficult; loosening those reins she had kept a tight grip on has been a struggle, but perhaps it's not all for naught. if derek were here, he'd be telling her she can't trust uncle peter — the truth is, she can't. she can't trust what comes out of his mouth, but she can trust his actions. it hadn't been derek she remembers calling out for nurses or sitting by her beside in her memories of her none-too-distant future. ]

[ it makes wedging distance between them all the more harder. ]

[ but the anger in her voice dissipates into confusion, her brows pinching. ] Help her with what? [ it's easier to go in for the kill with peter, but malia's someone cora's slowly coming to know over the course of the weeks that pass by. she has a sense of humour, if a little blunt and strange. but she's family — they have to stick together, even though cora's being the biggest hypocrite when it comes to uncle peter. ] Coming to terms with her paternity is going to require more than your help. [ derek would be proud of her for that dig, wouldn't he? she's not. ]

[haleyeah]

[ He should expect comments like that. Though he mostly expects them from Derek and his group. It's very easy to throw judgment onto Peter and everything he's ever done. It's easy to scratch and claw at him for the pain and anguish he's put people through. He'll admit that he's caused his fair share of devastation, but he's seen people do far worse to each other. The human race isn't without it's flaws. They are all flawed. Wolves and humans both are capable of so much more. Scott's moral outlook and inability to accept bad situations is not normal. People need to accept that good doesn't always win out. ]

With control. Your mother taught Laura control and I taught Derek. No one taught Malia. She was busy living in the woods after the incident with her sister and mother.

[ The incident where Malia ripped them to shreds on a full moon. Peter knows what it's like to kill a family member. He knows what it's like to rip and tear until they don't make a sound. Granted his murder of Laura was more about power than lack of control. He still understood to a certain extent. ]

She claims Scott and Stiles have been teaching her control, but all I see is a lack of it. Scott wouldn't know the first thing about trying to teach someone control.