4.02

[burninhale]

Well, this is it. This is the end. I've been stabbed, shot, electrocuted, set on fire, come back from the dead, and this is what did it. I'm ready to lie down in a grave now. It's all gone, it's over, farewell.








Except coffins and grave plots actually cost money. Which we no longer have. Add to that —

...

No, let's focus on the money. I don't think we need to discuss anything else.

Comments

[lydiascreams]

Well, lucky for me, you're no longer in my head. Unfortunately for you that means you don't get to figure out what I think about or not.

[And she does think about it. A lot. And it makes her angry. Because she feels insecure and incapable. And those are two things Lydia Martin hates feeling.]

[burninhale]

Yes, that's why I asked. Using words. As people sometimes do.

[ His smile is still ever so polite. ]

That answer is good enough.

[ Maybe the smile is a little mean. He couldn't 100% say whether the question got to her or not, but he's not actually petty enough to care. It's just reflex awfulness. ]

[lydiascreams]

Such big progress. [She smiles right back. All bright. And sarcastic.]

Too bad no one else buys any of your crap, Peter. [She's a little more defensive because he is totally getting to her despite herself.]

[burninhale]

Nobody has to. But that doesn't change how things are. I'm sure the next time you kids need my help and don't want to ask until it's almost too late, it'll all work out just as well as it has every time before.

[lydiascreams]

Oh so I should expect that we are actually going to get help from you? I don't think I have anything else I could actually offer you in exchange. [And unless it means saving someone's life, Peter's price is too high.]

[burninhale]

[ In his most reasonable tone— ] Wouldn't you rather know my price ahead of time, not during three simultaneous emergencies?

And don't sell yourself short. It won't save you from having to do terrible things. The more you run from what you can do, the more you'll pay in the end. Haven't you paid enough?

[ What would be an expression of sympathy from someone else is, coming out of Peter's mouth, more of an offhand question, almost like a real question: haven't you paid enough, or are you willing to pay more? ]

[lydiascreams]

[He sounds a lot like what Araya told her. And she hates it. Because all these people believe she's so powerful and she doesn't feel it. She just feel like a complete failure for letting Allison and Aiden down when she should have been able to stop it from happening.]

I'm not running. [She doesn't mean to say it outloud, but she can't stop herself.]

What do you want now?

[burninhale]

[ Ms. Morrell will probably pop up at some point to say it, too. Maybe Dr. Deaton for good measure. Probably, literally everyone will give Lydia unsolicited advice on this.

Peter frames it as a matter of self-interest, though, because that's where he comes from. His smile doesn't change at her denial and he chooses not to acknowledge it. ]

I only want what everybody wants: Kate thoroughly dead. Neither your nor my involvement is optional. Me because I'm a vengeful, partially unhinged murderer, and you because your friends' lives are endangered. It's that simple, Lydia.

[lydiascreams]

[She doesn't need advice. She needs a manual. She needs logic, she needs something concrete so she can make sense of it and figure it out. But this is the supernatural. Not science. So she's out of luck.]

And I suppose you have an amazing plan about how we stop your were jaguar beta while you sit back, safely and we do all the work?

[burninhale]

Actually, I do. But I don't call the shots anymore, so we'll go with whatever desperate circus act Scott comes up with at the last minute.

And I assure you, I'll be there, if only so that when the dust settles, I won't be the one looking back and wondering if I could've made just enough of a difference.

[lydiascreams]

You'll be there to save your own ass if it becomes necessary, Peter. None of us will believe otherwise.

And Scott is a better and more responsible Alpha than you could ever hope to be.

[burninhale]

What you believe about me doesn't, as I said, change how things have to be. Kate has to die. We're both involved in that. The only person left making a big deal about it...

[ He gives a small yet elaborate shrug. ]