DEREK HALE
Werewolf
Posts: 93
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Apr 16, 2024 19:42:14 GMT
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Post by DEREK HALE on Oct 30, 2022 16:32:08 GMT
Bracing his hands against the tile, Derek let the hot water pound down on the back of his neck. He rotated his head slowly, closing his eyes against the stream of water down his face. These days it felt less like a washing away of what wasn’t him and more just a relaxing five minutes with the heat pounding down on his back. Thanks to Scott his skin was his own again, that awareness of every muscle, every fibre of himself back.
Whatever the Dread Doctors had done to him had been erased with Scott’s bite. Now the pain that echoed through him when he changed was familiar, each crack of his bones on the full moon – a week past now – feeling like a relief instead of a torment.
He straightened up, shoving his wet hair back from his face, and turned the shower off. Derek stood dripping for a moment before he stepped out onto the mat and wrapped a towel around his waist. There was no fear when he met his own eye in the mirror, it was his own face looking back at him, not some stranger’s. A little more lined these days, like what had happened had taken some toll on him, but the face he knew beneath that new spiderweb veneer all the same. The scars they’d left were all beneath, carved into his mind, unable to be entirely erased yet. Scratching at them was probably a bad idea, but some part of him still needed to know, needed to stop this happening to anybody else.
People were still going missing in Mystic Falls. A teenager’s face had been pasted across the front page of both local newspapers just a few days ago. They’d left school like normal, but somewhere between there and home … poooof! Were they in the Dread Doctors’ hands now? Being twisted by whatever means the Docs had, screaming, panicking, desperate to get home. Was the face they saw in the mirror ever going to be the same again?
It ran an icy finger down his spine as he brushed his teeth and dried off, the feeling not easing until he was fully dressed and padding out of the bathroom. The sun was barely up, the sky he could see through the hallway window streaked with colour. By now people would be waking up, heading for work in what seemed like a sleepy little town. Not him though, he had other plans, some that would maybe work out this time.
Derek paused in front of Erica’s bedroom door. There’d been no question about opening the apartment up to her, he might not have been an Alpha anymore but Erica was still his pack. He had turned her and he’d failed her once, it wasn’t about to happen again. He sat on the fence a moment more and then rapped his knuckles on her door. ”I’m making breakfast, if you want it, and … I’ve got an ask …” A big one. He could’ve asked any of the pack for the help, but Erica was there and he knew she’d have his back.
Teeth raking over his lower lip he padded away, still barefoot. Ten minutes later he had the bacon sizzling in one pan, eggs fluffing in another, although, crap, they were sticking. No amount of trying to practice this domestic stuff was making this part any easier. It had been simpler when he’d been sticking to a diet of toast and chips, the typical teenaged diet of convenience food. Scowling, Derek scraped the spatula over the bottom of the pan, trying to detach the eggs before they seared onto it like concrete. Hearing footsteps in the hall, he glanced up. ”They’re not burnt. Not yet.” They weren’t going to be. He dragged the pan off the burner, scraping again to loosen them. The tops were cooked perfectly at least.
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ERICA REYES
Werewolf
Posts: 69
Age:
22
Occupation:
Whitmore College Senior
Status:
Single
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Mar 27, 2024 1:51:31 GMT
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Clawbacks
Jan 16, 2023 21:06:07 GMT
via mobile
Post by ERICA REYES on Jan 16, 2023 21:06:07 GMT
Mystic Falls wasn’t Beacon Hills but it really did feel like home to Erica. After she found her way back from the Other Side she had spent ages trying to track down Derek and the others before finally finding out that they were in Mystic Falls and ever since then it was like she had finally found somewhere that she belonged. She hadn't felt that way about Beacon Hills for a long time, not since her first epileptic fit in fact, and even though joining Derek's pack had given her a sense of belonging with everything that they had been facing at the time she had found herself living pretty much in constant fear of dying. She hadn't let anyone see that fear, of course, but that didn't mean that she hadn't felt it. In the end it was that fear that had gotten her killed and in leaving she had turned her back on Derek, the one person who had taken a chance on her when everyone else had given up or forgotten that she even existed a lot of the time. It was ironic, really, but now that she was back she knew better than to make that same mistake again. This time she was doing things the right way, she had accepted Scott’s invitation to join his pack and she had accepted Derek's invitation to move in with him. Erica wasn't used to having help like that from others but she was doing her best to learn to accept it when it was offered and she was also doing her best to repay their kindness as much as she could. Derek had given her a safe place to live and he had helped her with college while all she seemed able to do in return was help make sure he ate properly and chip in with the bills a little when she could. It didn't seem like much but thankfully he didn't seem to mind and she really was grateful to him for that. Erica’s one regret was leaving Harley behind but she knew that she just had to believe that he was going to be alright. Instead of worrying about him all the time she was doing her best to focus on school and her friends and it seemed to be working so far. That morning she had ended up waking up early to finish off an assignment so that the rest of her day would be free considering that she didn't have any classes that day. She had heard footsteps approaching her bedroom door and she knew that it had to be Derek but she couldn't deny that she was surprised when he knocked on the door and said that he had made breakfast. That was normally her job these days so she wasn't used to him doing it at all. She knew that there had to be an ulterior motive behind it and her suspicions were confirmed when he said that he had a big ask. "Thanks, I'll be right there," she called back, jumping in the shower and getting dressed once she had emerged before heading into the kitchen. "Bacon and eggs a la Derek, this is definitely a big ask," she quipped as she opened the fridge and poured them both a drink. "Spill. I'd like to know what I'm being asked to sell my soul for this before I agree to it," she said as she took a sip of her drink before her expression turned thoughtful for a moment. "Are you alright with that or do you want me to take over?" she offered. DEREK HALE
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DEREK HALE
Werewolf
Posts: 93
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Apr 16, 2024 19:42:14 GMT
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Post by DEREK HALE on Jan 28, 2023 20:07:15 GMT
The normal wasn’t as easy as people would have you believe. For decades Talia Hale had managed that for her family. They saw nothing wrong in what they were, they didn’t let what happened with every full moon change the rest of their lives. Their kids grew up eating their meals around the big table in the kitchen, the whole family gathering together while he’d yapped on about basketball or Cora had told them some rambling story about what was going in elementary school. People in Mystic Falls treated them with respect, like they were just another houseful of decent neighbours. Most didn’t have a clue what else Talia had done for the town, they didn’t feel that bite of shock the same way when Kate Argent and her people had burned the house down, hadn’t seen what that had allowed to come to Beacon Hills. Perhaps if she would’ve survived the Dread Doctors never would’ve dared set foot there.
New York had allowed him and Laura to try and recover some of that, but it had slipped away thanks to Peter. Now Peter had slipped away here and somehow, thanks to the pack, that normal – as much as it could be – had returned. Breakfast around the table, usually cooked by Erica (probably out of self-preservation given that practice hadn’t made anywhere perfect for him. It was the bargain they seemed to have entered into after she’d turned up in town. Each side putting a little something forward. Now the eggs were his chip in the pot, an attempt at a decent one anyway.
She was probably expecting blackened eggs and cremated bacon when she walked into the kitchen, although the smell of both would’ve filled the house if he’d screwed up (experience had taught him that much when he’d been throwing the windows open to get rid of the stench). Amusement curled his lips for a moment as she took her little jab, although his gaze snapped back to the bacon pan as it spat. ”I’d have thought maybe it was more a case of I promise not to make you eat this if you’ll help me out today…” Not that it was turning out that badly. The eggs hadn’t stuck to the pan, they were stirring up black specks as he started to tip them out onto the two plates on the counter either.
His dark brows were furrowing as he put the egg pan in the sink and immediately rinsed it off. Another thing he’d learned the hard way – if you left eggs to dry out in a pan, it was like trying to scrape concrete off. Derek’s hands came up in a gesture of surrender as he moved back to get the bacon. ”This is the easy bit, I think I can handle it. You wanna grab the toast?” His chin jerked up towards the toaster – no smoke there either, although that was the really easy part. ”You know I was looking for the Dread Doctors before Scott gave me the bite? I want to start again. Maybe it’s like waving a red flag to a bull, but they’re still taking people. Another kid went missing day before yesterday. They’re being held out there somewhere and if we want to avoid another kid being turned into something, we need to try and track down them. You wanna ride shotgun looking today?” Not exactly a soul selling ask, but given what the Docs did to the people they took it wasn’t exactly gonna be a walk in the park. If they were found nosing around they weren’t exactly going to be given a warm welcome. They’d be together though, a harder prospect to take down than just some asshole werewolf who had no clue what was waiting out there.
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ERICA REYES
Werewolf
Posts: 69
Age:
22
Occupation:
Whitmore College Senior
Status:
Single
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Mar 27, 2024 1:51:31 GMT
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Post by ERICA REYES on Nov 28, 2023 22:54:56 GMT
Derek had never been the kind of person who was good at cooking, he had always tried but ever since she moved in Erica had taken it upon herself to do most of the cooking. She had learned a lot while she was travelling trying to find Derek and the pack and she was more than happy to make sure that they had something edible to eat rather than whatever Derek tried to put together. That morning he actually didn’t seem to be doing too bad a job, though, and she couldn’t deny that she was proud of him even if she still couldn’t resist teasing him about it. She could have let it slide but that just wasn’t her and Erica knew that she was too set in her ways to change now. Of course he wanted a favour, that was why he had gone to the trouble of making them both breakfast, and Erica knew that she should probably run a mile right now but Derek was her family and she knew that she wasn’t going to turn her back on him again. She had made that decision once and it had ended up getting her killed so she knew that she wasn’t going to do that a second time. “Normally I would agree with you but this time you don’t seem to be doing too badly,” Erica admitted. She hadn’t expected that at all, she had actually expected it to be a complete disaster but Derek was doing a lot better than she had given him credit for. Taking a sip of her drink, all Erica could do was watch as Derek continued cooking. It was natural by now for her to offer to take over but Derek didn’t seem to want to take her up on that this time around and that surprised her. “Alright, if you say so,” she nodded as he said he thought that he could handle it. “Sure,” she said as he asked if she wanted to grab the toast. Making her way over to the toaster, she pulled the toast out and shared it out between the two plates. “Yeah, I remember,” she nodded as Derek asked if she remembered how he was looking for the Dread Doctors. As he said he wanted to start looking for them again, Erica’s eyes widened in surprise. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? You know what they did to you last time, there’s no telling what they might do if they get hold of you again,” she warned, knowing that the last thing she wanted was for Derek to go putting a target on his back. He hadn’t done anything to gain their attention last time and they had still turned him into a shapeshifter, there was no telling what they might do if he deliberately went looking for them. “I should have known you would play the good Samaritan card,” Erica sighed as Derek mentioned another kid had gone missing. “I’ll go with you but only because I don’t like the idea of you being out there alone. I still think this is a bad idea and you’re going to owe me a lot more than breakfast,” she said as she stole a rasher of bacon from the pan and took a bite. DEREK HALE
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DEREK HALE
Werewolf
Posts: 93
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Apr 16, 2024 19:42:14 GMT
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Post by DEREK HALE on Dec 21, 2023 18:43:39 GMT
”For once, you mean?” Derek asked on a snort. ”Maybe I should start watching some of those YouTube tutorials.” Or, alternatively, he could just learn to come straight out and ask for what he needed. For years he’d had to dance around things, hiding the truth about what was going on in situations to avoid having a target painted on his back. In the end that behaviour had cost him more than it had saved him. Still, like it took an eternity for rain to wear a mountain down into a hill, it had taken him a long time to work his way around to trying to make the sort of changes that allowed others close to him.
He doubted that Erica was regretting moving in yet, but there was still plenty of time for that to happen. They’d been working well together – even if she’d been the one doing the majority of the work in the kitchen. Like they had the first time around, they’d settled into the friendship pretty easily – with him not seeing her as the fragile girl the rest of the world had for years, and her not seeming to take offense at his sharp attitude. Erica was smart and fierce, loyal in the same way Scott always had been. She deserved to know what was going on with him, and to be a part of trying to keep the pack and everybody else in this town safe.
Derek smiled wryly at her, plucking the bacon out of the pan with a fork without incident. The bottom of the bacon was a little crispy, but that was how he’d always liked it. When she’d first moved in he’d given her a full run down of what had happened to him, how he still couldn’t remember the months between Beacon Hills and Scott and Stiles finding him here in Mystic Falls, how hard it had been to let go of the idea of ever being turned back or finally finding the things that had done this to him. Maybe getting it all out had been cathartic, but, of course, it meant that Erica knew the toll it was still taking on him in a way.
Shaking his head, Derek leaned back against the counter, the bacon only half served up. His brows furrowed, tension starting to build in his shoulders. He knew the rest of the pack were gonna think exactly the same way Erica did, which was probably why he hadn’t told any of them. ”I can’t sit around and do nothing,” he admitted tightly. ”Maybe it’ll piss them off, but I know that whatever they can do to me can be fixed again. If I sit around and do nothing at all, maybe there’ll be a hundred more people like me changed before someone else manages to take them down.” It wasn’t like he was the only one out there looking for them. Alix had been trying to stop them almost since the moment she was turned.
”Hey!” Derek snorted, grabbing the pan out of Erica’s reach to finish dishing breakfast up. ”Can’t be that bad if you’re already doing that. Take your plate to the table, come on, no matter what’s happening, we’ll eat first.” Derek’s lips curled faintly as he emptied the pan and set that in the sink to soak. ”I just know you’ve got a good heart. Alright … what’s this gonna cost me?” Whatever it was he figured he could probably find a way to skirt around it given that Erica had already agreed to go with him. It didn’t matter that she was only saying yes to protect him from himself.
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ERICA REYES
Werewolf
Posts: 69
Age:
22
Occupation:
Whitmore College Senior
Status:
Single
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Mar 27, 2024 1:51:31 GMT
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Post by ERICA REYES on Jan 30, 2024 2:06:51 GMT
“Your words, not mine,” Erica smirked as Derek said that he wasn’t doing too badly with the cooking for once. Normally his cooking was awful and that was definitely something that Erica had remembered from Beacon Hills. She had learned a lot after she came back and she had been more than happy to throw herself into the cooking to make sure that they all had something edible to eat rather than having to eat out all the time. Erica hadn’t known what to do after she made her way back from the Other Side but after saying goodbye to her brother she had moved around a lot and she had learned even more about how to look after herself. She had already known how to cook but she had learned a lot more and she was always more than happy to let Derek reap the benefits. As he mentioned YouTube tutorials, Erica couldn’t help but laugh. “If you’re going to do that you’ll have to let me know so I can film it. The others will never believe it without proof,” she teased. It was such a not-Derek thing to do that she couldn’t see him actually doing it but just the idea of him giving it a try was far too amusing to her right now. Honestly, Erica knew that doing the cooking was the least she could do and she was trying to pay her way as well. She had never been very good at relying on other people and she had known that she hadn’t wanted Derek to feel like she was a burden. She knew he had meant it when he’d said that they were family and she felt it too but she wanted to contribute in whatever way she could, whether that was with cooking and bills or helping Derek find the people responsible for making him a shapeshifter. Truth be told Erica had still had a lot to learn about the supernatural world but she liked to think that she was getting there now. She hadn’t known that it was possible for someone to go from being a werewolf to a shapeshifter but apparently the Dread Doctors had found a way to throw the laws of nature out the window and do their own thing and that made them that much more dangerous as far as Erica was concerned. Taking a human and turning them into something supernatural was one thing but taking someone like Derek who was born into the supernatural world and turning them into something else entirely was sick and twisted and she knew that those responsible needed to be stopped. It had been a while since all of that had happened and they were still no closer to finding the people responsible despite the pack’s best efforts so if she was honest Erica didn’t hold too much hope but she knew that she would support Derek regardless. “I know you can’t, I get it,” she assured him gently. Derek’s life had been changed in a way that none of them could begin to understand but deep down Erica knew that she probably got it a bit better than the others did given how long she’d spent trapped on the Other Side. “You don’t know that for sure,” Erica corrected as Derek said that whatever the Dread Doctors did to him could always be fixed again. “If they somehow turned you into a vampire then Scott’s bite would kill you rather than turn you,” she said, not sure whether he’d thought that part through. A werewolf bite could solve a lot in Derek’s case it seemed but that was one thing it wouldn’t be able to fix. “I can understand you not wanting anyone else to go through what you did,” she nodded as she took a sip of her drink. “I’ve got your back, you know that.” She had made the mistake of turning her back on Derek once before and she knew that she wasn’t going to make that same mistake again nor was she going to let him face this alone. Erica couldn’t help but laugh at Derek’s reaction as she swiped a rasher of bacon from the pan but it didn’t stop her from eating it quickly. “It’s not as good as mine but it’s edible,” she smirked before grabbing her plate just like Derek had instructed and making her way over to the table. Setting her plate and drink down, Erica took her usual seat and waited for Derek to join her. “If you tell anyone that, I’ll make you regret it,” she warned as Derek said she had a good heart although there was no malice to her words. Erica was used to having to act tough and like nothing ever bothered her because it was what she’d had to do to survive even before Derek bit her but deep down she knew that he was right, she just wasn’t used to showing it. As he asked what it was going to cost him, Erica thought about it for a moment. She knew that Derek would probably try and get out of it anyway but she knew that it was worth a shot. “Driving lessons,” she said as she took a bite of her meal. “I wasn’t able to get my licence before I died and with everything that’s been going on since I got back I’ve never learned,” she explained, hoping that he wouldn’t mind. She had always made out that it didn’t bother her before but the truth was that it really did. “I have some money saved up so I can pay the going rate whatever that is, I wouldn’t expect you to help me for nothing.”DEREK HALE
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DEREK HALE
Werewolf
Posts: 93
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Apr 16, 2024 19:42:14 GMT
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Post by DEREK HALE on Mar 9, 2024 18:59:23 GMT
Letting out a long breath through his nose, Derek shook his head. They had been his words, it was his progress, his amusement too. It had been too long since he’d had others around this much. Life with Laura in New York after spending his entire life with a house full of family around him had taken time to adjust to. They had been so subdued, grief filling that small space thickly enough that he’d been sure they’d both choke on it. After Laura had been killed it had only grown worse. Scott and the others had seen a loner, brooding in the charred remains of his house, like he wasn’t still carrying the burden of all that had happened. Cora’s return had started to break that up, like a piece of charcoal disintegrating, leaving behind sooty smudges, but finally drifting through his hands. Having Erica here was just like having both of his sisters back, the two of them ragging on him.
Derek’s grin broke through, his pale eyes rolling as he shook his head. ”That’s never happening. I can’t keep up my rep if you’re out there with videos of destroying a crate of eggs.” Stiles probably would’ve been right at her shoulder, whooping, tears running down his face. That wasn’t the Derek Hale he knew, it wasn’t the Derek Hale he was likely to see any time soon either. Some things were definitely best kept behind closed doors.
With Erica pitching in around the house, he’d been left to twiddle his thumbs more than before. In a way it was probably good for him to settle into a better routine, but spending most of the alone left his brain racing, looking for some way to make sure what had happened to him before couldn’t happen again. Like a splinter, the thoughts of the Dread Doctors had dug deeper over time – probably their intention when it came to their experiments. He wasn’t gonna be the one who went crawling back to them for answers, though, he was gonna be one of the people who took them down in the end. Derek met Erica’s eye, his mouth pinched in a thin line before he spoke. ”You still think it’s a bad move though?” he asked, already knowing the answer. Scott had saved him once, it should’ve meant a fresh start, but that was easier said than done. ”You can’t know that for sure. Has he tried turning any back?” With the nogitsune it had all been about changing the body. There was no proof it was that easy with the experiments, but it had worked on him, it had worked on Hayden, he had to believe it would again.
”I know,” Derek promised, touching Erica’s arm as he reassurance came. Like the pack, he knew he could rely on her no matter what. That meant he’d expected an honest opinion on the breakfast he’d set in front of her. For a second he narrowed his eyes at her scant praise, but then he was snorting softly. ”I’ll take that,” he murmured. Especially since it was probably about as it was gonna get for now. Grabbing his plate, Derek followed her to the table. ”You think they don’t know it by now?” Scott had a way of seeing beneath the surface, even if you didn’t want him to, it was part of what made him a good Alpha. He hadn’t had that sort of insight, but people had been loyal to him. ”I can do that,” Derek said lightly. He took a mouthful of eggs, swallowing them rapidly when Erica tried to tell him she’d pay. ”I’m not taking your money. You’re already doing enough helping me out here. You’re already helping me out, so we can call it square. You wanna start later on?” It’d be something else to fill the long hours of his day, distracting him from the hunt from the things that had tried to destroy his life.
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ERICA REYES
Werewolf
Posts: 69
Age:
22
Occupation:
Whitmore College Senior
Status:
Single
Played by:
Emma
Last seen Mar 27, 2024 1:51:31 GMT
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Post by ERICA REYES on Mar 27, 2024 1:12:47 GMT
For most of her life Erica had grown up as an only child so she had never really known what it was like to bicker with a sibling. She was already a teenager by the time her younger brother was born and he was still a toddler when she had died. She had been the one to look after him more than her own mom had so she’d had to grow up pretty quickly but then again things had never been the same after her parents split up anyway. Her dad had remarried and he had step children she didn’t really know, her step mother had made her dad cut her out of his life and he had never fought against that so Erica had known it wasn’t worth trying to have a relationship with him after that. She had learned how to be on her own and look after herself and it had made her stronger but it had also been pretty lonely. Living with Derek now really was so different to the way things had been back in Beacon Hills. Now it was like having an older brother around and the truth was that Erica liked that even if she wasn’t really the best at showing it. “Spoilsport,” Erica smirked as Derek refused to let her film him watching a tutorial. “I hate to break it to you but I’m pretty sure at least some people are starting to see the real you now,” she added. Back in Beacon Hills Derek had been all business, he had cared about her, Isaac and Boyd but he had been so focused on training them and trying to figure out what was going on that there hadn’t been much time for anything else. Now he wasn’t an Alpha any longer it was almost like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders and even though she could see that he was still haunted by what the Dread Doctors had done to him, this Derek was still different and she knew that wasn’t a bad thing. Erica couldn’t blame Derek for wanting to find answers about the Dread Doctors, a book had been circulated around town explaining what they did but no one seemed to know who they actually were and for all they knew they were still there taking people and turning their lives upside down. They had done it to Derek and they had done it to Hayden and Jasper as well. Erica knew that there were countless others who had been affected by them too so they needed to be stopped but she would be lying if she said that she wasn’t worried about what might happen to Derek if they learned that he was still digging. As Derek asked if she thought it was a bad move, Erica’s expression turned thoughtful for a moment. “I’m just worried about you,” she said at last. It was rare that she ever voiced concern about anyone but Derek meant a lot to her and she knew that she didn’t want anything bad to happen to him again. As Derek asked if Scott had tried turning any vampires back, Erica studied him carefully for a moment. “If he did he would kill them. You know as well as I do that vampire plus werewolf bite equals death,” she said, needing to make sure he knew that it might not be as easy to turn him back if something like that happened. “I know the Dread Doctors can do a lot but someone has to die to become a vampire, there isn’t any coming back from that.”A smile touched Erica’s lips as Derek said he knew she had his back. He might not be an Alpha anymore but he was the first Alpha she had ever known and Erica knew that she would always be loyal to him no matter what. Derek was family and she knew that she wasn’t going to run away when things got difficult like she had done before. She had paid with her life last time and she knew that she wasn’t going to make that same mistake again. “If you’re really interested in learning to cook, I can teach you if you like,” Erica offered, knowing that would probably be better for Derek than trying to learn from watching videos online. “They’d better not, you’re not the only one with a reputation to protect,” Erica scoffed as she took a sip of her drink. Deep down she knew that he was probably right, Scott had a way of seeing right through people and it never seemed to be long before the others followed suit as well but she knew that she still wanted to keep her reputation intact if she could. “Seriously?” Erica asked as Derek agreed to give her driving lessons. She really had thought that he would refuse or at the very least try and get out of it at a later date. She was quick to offer to pay but Derek was just as quick to say he wasn’t going to take her money. “It hardly seems fair, it’ll take a lot of time so I don’t expect you to do it for free,” Erica said, knowing that she would be more than happy to pay Derek for that time if he would let her. “You bet,” she nodded as Derek asked if she wanted to start later. DEREK HALE
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DEREK HALE
Werewolf
Posts: 93
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Apr 16, 2024 19:42:14 GMT
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Post by DEREK HALE on Apr 16, 2024 19:39:17 GMT
His grin remained, turning smug around the edges as Erica griped. Publicity had been the last thing he’d wanted for so long. Allowing someone to find out what he was had been what had damned his family in the first place, so it had been natural to try and shove Scott and the others out of things when Peter had thrown the door open to a bunch of teenagers with no clue of what trouble they were in. Slowly Scott had dug deeper, pushing past all the barriers he’d set up. If he hadn’t there was a chance he’d have been dead, just like Laura, but Scott wasn’t one to give in. Thanks to the Dread Doctors the rest of them had been crushed to dust. There was no hiding now and maybe Erica was right, it was time to get used to it. ”Let’s hope they keep it to themselves,” he quipped dryly. It wasn’t like he had a reputation to ruin here, the same way he had back in Beacon Hills. Here nobody cared about the Hale name and honestly, he was starting to prefer it that way.
To the Dread Doctors he’d probably been nothing more than another faceless experiment. A success, maybe, but cast out still. From what Alix had told him, they likely still watched him for some sign of failure. He hadn’t seen them, but that had always been their pattern. Screw people up and walk away. The fact that they stayed in Mystic Falls so long had been surprising. Maybe it meant that there was some reason for them to still be here and that meant he had a chance of finally stopping them for good. Derek’s teeth scraped over his lower lip as he waited for Erica to answer him. If he’d asked Alix the same thing she’d likely have said yes. He might’ve been a part of the supernatural world since birth, but they were something he’d never faced before. ”It’s appreciated, but I’m fine,” Derek told her, being mostly honest. Some part of him was still struggling with what had happened, but he was himself again and that was the most important part.
”Under normal circumstances he would, but none of this is normal,” Derek muttered. His brows drew together, his expression growing grim again. ”We don’t know that the rules are the same…” But Scott wouldn’t risk checking it, not if it almost certainly meant death. He hadn’t been a vampire, Hayden hadn’t been a vampire, their DNA had almost been primed for them to be turned into werewolves – back into a werewolf in his case. There was a chance he could’ve continued to argue the point for days, but Erica would probably have been right every time. Some of the rules had been changed by what the Dread Doctors were doing, most had remained the same though.
He’d have said that leopards couldn’t change their spots, but look at him being all domestic and cooking something (being more than just edible was still a work in progress). No matter what happened, Derek knew that Erica and the others would back him up on it, his past crimes long forgiven, even if they weren’t forgotten. ”You wouldn’t want to film that too?” he asked lightly. Setting his plate down, he started in on it, pausing after his first mouthful to nod at her in acceptance of her offer. The two of them could try and disguise who they’d become, but it was as obvious to the pack as his lack of cooking skills was when it came to the eggs. ”I don’t think Stiles cares about reputations.”
Despite their mediocrity, Derek forked up some more eggs, nodding at Erica as she questioned his offer. ”Honestly,” he told her. ”If you hadn’t already helped me out more than I deserved, you’re pack. That means this stuff doesn’t come with a price tag. What else am I gonna do with my time? Take up knitting?” The amusement he’d lost drifted back into his expression as he chewed his mouthful. ”How about we start with the lessons then, you can drive us out there.” The roads weren’t exactly the easiest to drive, but at least they were empty most of the time.
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