MOONS.
013. | ❛ this isn't about you. ❜

"So, this entire dinner is meant to be some boorish inquisition? How rude." Aurora pouts.

"Well this isn't all about you." Luna smiles brightly at her.

"Nonsense, loves! My brother merely wishes to make certain we're all on the same page. So, who would like to begin?" The guests are all silent until Tristan finally speaks up.

"Well, Lucien and I have always loathed each other. Had we arrived as allies with a bleak future, you would have doubted us. We sought to remove suspicion by maintaining appearances."Elijah chuckles and rolls his eyes.

"Oh, my dear. These pathetic lies promise to be as difficult to swallow as your stuffing this year, Niklaus." Elijah sarcastically replies. Elijah sighs dramatically and lowers his voice.

"Walnuts, honestly." Klaus laughs loudly before Lucien jumps into the discussion.

"The bottom line is, we came to protect you ourselves. We have never wavered on this point."

"And the bodies on my streets-- is that your protection as well?"

"It's business as usual for The Strix." Lucien shrugs.

"An old tactic, used often and to great success. Jack the Ripper, Son of Sam... A frightened human populace is that much easier to control. If tourism should decline, and the local vampires are deprived of fresh blood? Well, you saw how quickly Marcel joined our ranks." Tristan continued.
Klaus rolls his eyes,"Pedestrian. I would've expected more from such gaudy theatrics."

"Well, if one wanted to obtain a certain item in, say, a private collection, but one was not invited into the home where said private collection was located, a police investigation could come in handy to remove those items as evidence."

Elijah unamused, " I take it you are referring to the medallion?" Tristan and Lucien seem alarmed that the Mikaelsons are aware of their plans for the Serratura, but they recover quickly.

"I suppose it was my sister who shared that bit of information?"

"Don't blame Aurora-- you two are hardly conspiratorial geniuses."

"Yes don't blame her because she could never do any harm." Luna narrows her eyes at Aurora. Lucien, visibly unhappy about Klaus and Aurora's reconciliation, decides to try to turn them against each other.

"Funny story-- it turns out, all along, that the medallion was in the hands of Nik's friend Camille, the bartender-slash-therapist. Had to get her arrested in order to search her goodies, so to speak. And Luna as well, I do happen to recall that you did have a great amount of love for her. But, I would never allow any harm to come to her, knowing the great affection you have for her." Klaus scowls at Lucien at this news, and Aurora is clearly jealous about the fact that Klaus cares about another girl other than herself.

The Thanksgiving dinner continues in the compound's courtyard, where Klaus is smiling coldly at the Trinity.

"A medallion that could lock us away hardly seems like a wise strategy for those come to protect us. Hand it over"

"and release Rebekah." Elijah finishes Klaus's sentence. Lucien looks around the table in confusion before interrupting.

"Uh, just a tick-- Aurora has Rebekah, hmm?" Aurora gives Lucien an offended look.

"No reason why I shouldn't be trusted with my sire's safety."

"Of course... unless you were to have one of your episodes."

Tristan quickly interrupts to defend his sister.

"Easy, Lucien. My sister sought leverage to protect herself. Who among us would do otherwise?" Elijah is rapidly beginning to lose his patience with this conversation.

"Niklaus, will you politely remind me why we shouldn't just compel them all to give us what we want?"
Aurora bursts into very loud laughter at this remark. Klaus smiles tightly at her, also beginning to dislike their conversation.

"I'm sorry, did Elijah say something amusing?" Luna says coldly.
Aurora smiles politely, "We lost a century to compulsion, my love. And some of us lost a great deal more. Surely you can't believe we'd allow ourselves to come here vulnerable?" She says towards Klaus. Elijah smiles fakely at Aurora in response.

"I'm sorry did you forget that Klaus forgot about you? I mean he did sleep with Hayley, and he also found me."

"Yes, you are most definitely right but then again, who was in his bed last night?" Aurora made the confession of why Klaus didn't meet her. Luna was clearly holding back her tears which made Aurora happy.

"My dearest Aurora, compulsion is not my only party trick." Aurora's smile becomes a scowl within seconds.

" I do not like these threats." Once again, Tristan quickly jumps into the conversation to mediate.

"Our continued existence depends on the Mikaelsons." Aurora rolls her eyes at her brother's diplomatic attitude.

"We've known that since Finn and Kol died. Unfortunately, so does every other vampire in the world. Given that the sirelines have declared war against one another, you can imagine how many young upstarts have come to the same conclusion-- kill a Original, wipe out an entire line of rivals." Tristan looks pointedly at Klaus and Elijah.

"Heavy burden, isn't it? The lives of thousands of sired vampires resting on your shoulders? In a perfect world, you'd allow us to seal you away forever, thus eliminating the threat." Klaus and Elijah stare coldly at Tristan, clearly not appreciating the implications of what he's suggesting.

Klaus said coldly,"Fortunately, the world is far from perfect."Klaus smiles weakly at him.

The Thanksgiving dinner at the compound is still underway, and tensions are growing even stronger as Klaus and Elijah debate with the Trinity.

"With all the nauseating dinner theater we've endured throughout the centuries, these performances are, by far, the worst." Elijah says

Both Tristan and Aurora roll their eyes and throw their heads back in identical expressions of exasperation before Tristan eventually speaks.

"Aurora, my sister--" Klaus immediately cuts him off.

"Aurora is quite aware of our desire to see Rebekah home, and I'm sure she'll do everything in her power to oblige." Just then, footsteps are heard as Freya walks into the courtyard and makes an appalled face at the sight of her brothers' guests.

"We're welcoming our enemies to the dinner table now? Convenient, given she's the one who has the answers I want." Freya gestures at Aurora, who is so offended by the accusation that she scoffs loudly.

"Oh, for heaven's sake! Now I have to deal with the long-lost sister?"
Aurora turns to Klaus with a stern expression.

"Nik, please spare me your family's rage and paranoia. It is exactly this kind of lunacy which led me to steal Rebekah in the first place."
Klaus' amused look turns to anger as he narrows his eyes at Aurora, who rises to her feet.

"What did you do with her?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, love, but this prophecy has you all acting as fools. And I've no intention of risking my life to foolishness."
Everyone in the room is staring at Aurora, as none of them know the true reason why Aurora took Rebekah in the first place except for Tristan, who merely looks embarrassed by her behavior.

"Now, I can't trust Rebekah with any of you."Aurora gives Tristan a pointed look before she continues

"And I certainly can't trust the silly dear to endure on her own, so I decided to put her someplace safe. Imagine a spot where no harm could come to her. Where, in fact, no one could possibly even track her down."Aurora smiles at the rest of the room as the Mikaelsons all stare at her in bewilderment and horror.

"Yes, rest assured, Rebekah is perfectly fine... at the bottom of the ocean." Elijah and Klaus glare at her murderously. Klaus narrows his eyes in scrutiny as he examines Aurora's poker face.

"You're bluffing." Aurora simply shakes her head as though she's playing dumb, and Klaus becomes even more overwhelmed with anger.

"Tell me you're bluffing!"

"Oh, you should all be thanking me. Rebekah's never been safer! She has plenty of company down there. There's all the little crabs, and octopus, and..." Aurora makes accompanying hand gestures to communicate the crabs and octopi just as Klaus angrily slams his hands on the table and stands to his feet. Before Klaus can react further, however, Tristan vamp-speeds over to Freya and holds the point of a knife to her throat.

"Harm my sister, and I'll be forced to return the favor." Elijah, not to be outdone, vamp-speeds over to Tristan and yanks him away from Freya, pinning him face-first against one of the support beams of the balcony. Lucien smirks at this development and awkwardly sips his drink before making his snarky reply.

"Oh, this all escalated very quickly..."

"Shut up, Lucien, or I'll tear your tongue from your head."

"Be careful with your threats, Nik. Anything should happen to me, I won't be able to protect your precious Cami and Luna." Aurora's eyes flash with jealousy and anger.

"Okay, that is the second time I've heard her name! Just who is this Cami?" Luna glares mutinously at Aurora.

"You have bigger problems." Luna vamp speeds using her hands to snap Aurora's neck and causing her to collapse onto the floor in a heap. Klaus, both appalled and impressed, shouts at her.

"Luna!"

Elijah seems to be in agreement with Luna and interrupts him as he drags Tristan back to the table by the back of his neck and shoving him down onto his seat.

"Niklaus... Which of these two vulgar parasites would you first like to torture?" Lucien takes a deep breath, clearly not keen to be alone with either Mikaelson brother, but Klaus just shrugs.

"Well, it's half a dozen of one and six of the other, isn't it?" Klaus walks over to Lucien and stands behind him, squeezing his shoulders tightly in mock affection before smiling devilishly at Elijah.

"Why don't you take the stable boy? Tristan and I are long overdue for a good catch-up."

Klaus looks down at Lucien with a cold smile and whispers menacingly into his ear.

"Oh, if anything happens to Camille or Luna..." Elijah, amused, cuts him off.

"Oh, I'm quite sure Lucien's aware. Devastating error." Lucien purses his lips, not wanting to set either of the brothers off. Meanwhile, Luna and Freya smile coldly down at Aurora's unconscious body, which is still splayed across the rug where she fell after her neck was snapped.