Spring Festival [OPEN TO ALL!]

[deadly_legacy]

When; Friday, April 6 2012, afternoon into night
Rating; Various! Warn if you need to on individual threads.
Characters; EVERYONE EVER!
Summary; Spring festival
Log;

Xanadu is buzzing this afternoon with with food stands and booths with games to play and trinkets to sell or win. There are a couple of stages where people play instruments, sing, juggle, and otherwise entertain.

People donated money, time and materials to bring everything together. Some areas are very polished and professional while others have more of a homemade touch, but it blends together nicely and there is a little something for everyone. A little further from the main attractions there is space for relaxing or playing a game of frisbee or catch.

As the evening settles upon the City, paper lanterns light up an outdoor dance floor and a band plays a range of music from romantic to spirited. There are also tables set up for those who would prefer to star or people gaze.

(OOC: As mentioned here please feel free to have your character/business set up a booth or stand or to be performing under the appropriate headings! They can be doing if for money, free, or charity. General Mingle | Booths: Games/Merchandise | Food Stands | Entertainment/Street Performers | Dance)

Comments

[ OPEN even though she's there with Chekov]

[likeboudica]

[ Tessa's visibly enjoying herself, eyes wide and smiling at this or that. She stands out a little in her usual period dress, but don't mind her, she'll just peer at everything, trying to take it all in. ]

[rehashing]

[ From afar, Elena spots her, the picture of Katherine circa when Elena doesn't remember her. What is going on? Of all things for Katherine to be sporting, of all fashions, she wouldn't go so vintage. She remembers Euphie telling her about the girl who looks exactly like her.

Tessa.

Katherine's MO involves pretending to be Elena.

It's different being in The City. She doesn't compare herself to her ancestor. She doesn't take extra effort not to be like her. If she admits it, Elena has an easier time here. She doesn't have to worry which of her friends' lives will be threatened left - thanks to her. She doesn't have to look over her shoulder. The danger that she worries about involves sometimes silly curses. Meeting complete strangers who haven't hacked her into pieces yet.

For the first time in a long time, Elena can breathe. She's not the girl who lost her parents or the girl torn between two Salvatore's (something she isn't even sure of)... She can be Elena Gilbert.

Which is why seeing this Tessa woman is unsettling to say the least.

Elena gets into line for a soft pretzel, well aware that her doppelganger of sorts is here. ]

[likeboudica]

[ the last few days, Tessa's been far happier than she can remember being in a long time— certainly happier than she's been since leaving New York. which is, perhaps, why she doesn't feel worried or threatened when she realises that someone is watching her, instead stepping a little closer with a smile.

only to stop and, well, stare. ]

[rehashing]

[ She's approaching. Elena doesn't know what to do. She's strong. She'd stand up to Katherine. Why does it bother her so much? She finally leaves dimensions and still there's a woman who looks freaking exactly like her.

Taking a breath, Elena readies herself, not knowing what to say but she looks back at the woman, now in line with her. ]

Tessa?

[likeboudica]

Yes. [ That woman— looks exactly like her. Tessa's been in the City long enough to know that such things happen, but it is disconcerting to see her own face on a stranger regardless of any such knowledge. Especially since the stranger also knows her name.

Still, she tries to keep the frown off her face, taking a deep breath. ] How do you know my name?

[ It happens in the City, that people look alike, it isn't unusual, she tells herself. It doesn't have to mean anything, and it certainly has nothing to do with her ability. ]

[rehashing]

[ Elena only realizes she's holding her breath when Tessa confirms her identity. She begins breathing when she's certain Tessa isn't Katherine. Still, a part of her can't let her guard down. It won't.

And she sounds like Elena, only... more old fashioned and polite. ]

A woman, Euphie told me there was a woman here. Who looked just like me. She told me your name.

[ Looking in the mirror is never any less unsettling. She doesn't know what else to say. She's never spent a substantial amount of time in the same room as Katherine. Her idea, usually. ]

[likeboudica]

[ Tessa relaxes a little more. That is a perfectly legitimate manner of learning her name, after all. ] Miss Euphie is very nice.

[ Even so, it is unsettling, and Tessa is not at all used to it. This is what Jessamine must have felt like when Tessa Changed into her, then. Strange to be experiencing it herself. ] Are you new to the City?

[rehashing]

[ She nods. ] She is.

[ Elena nods again. ] Very. [ A raise of the eyebrow. ] Are you?

[likeboudica]

No. [ A slight smile. ] I have been here for a little over nine months, now.

[ A beat. ] Though this is the first time that I meet someone who looks like me.

[rehashing]

[ She can't admit to what's happened before, to Katherine. Only Buffy knows she is aware of what vampires even are. But, she hasn't told a soul about her life back in Mystic Falls. ]

Me too.

[ The lie slips out. It's safer this way. It's not as if she's going to warn the entirety of the city about her doppelganger, creating needless questions or panic - especially now that Tessa is a factor. ]

Nine months? Almost a year, then.

[likeboudica]

Almost, yes. [ And Tessa hopes quite fiercely that she will stay in the City beyond that, too. ] How do you like the City so far?

[rehashing]

It's interesting. [ Fine. Okay. ] Different.

[likeboudica]

Yes, I suppose it is. Especially the curses.

[rehashing]

Are you a fan?

[likeboudica]

Not of the curses, certainly. But I do prefer the City to my own world.

[rehashing]

Where are you from? Originally?

[likeboudica]

New York, though I was in London before I came to the City.

[rehashing]

Virginia.

[likeboudica]

I have never been. Is it nice there?

[rehashing]

It is. [ But, she's never been to New York. Or London. ] I'm sorry, this is... [ she sucks in. ]

[likeboudica]

[ Looking away. ] It is very strange.

[rehashing]

You've been here for nine months. You... got here first.

[likeboudica]

Yes. [ Frown more pronounced now. She doesn't get whatever it is you're trying to say.

Briefly, a thought flickers through her mind: she could Change what she looks like— but no. No. ] That does not make it any less strange.

[rehashing]

It doesn't. You're nice, Tessa. [ If you only knew. ] Do you have anybody here? From London? When you're from?

[likeboudica]

Thank you. [ For thinking her nice, if nothing else. ] There is— yes. William Herondale.