predispositions | IC Inbox

Josie's been here too long.

The mirrors have taken hold, pulling out the parts of her she keeps buried. It shifts her posture, shifts her voice, strips out the uncertainties and brings up a confidence that Josie normally doesn't have. Little Josie Saltman is scared of her own power - scared of her own shadow, really. She lets Lizzie lead so she doesn't have to stand on her own two feet.

And honestly, as far as some of her is concerned, Little Josie Saltzman needs to get a grip.

As she's wandering through the mirrors, glimpses of her darker side flickering over the reflections. Some point along the way, she hears footsteps, sensing her sister's magic somewhere in the maze, before rolling her eyes.

"Looking for someone?"

The mirrors have been doing their magic on Lizzie too, but in a different way. They have been tearing at her, piece by piece, confusing her with memories she doesn't recall, versions of herself and her friends and family she doesn't remember. One involved a nastier version of Josie, a mean girl at Mystic Falls who blamed Lizzie for their dad's alcoholism, for everything. Because she was a black hole that sucked up everything else.

She hated her.

But it's a lie, it's a trick, that's what Lizzie tries to hold onto. This place wants her to be crazy, wants to break her. It's just like the hospital. She won't give it that satisfaction. Which is why she sends a blast of energy towards the mirror, hoping to shatter it and find an exit.

The mirror shatters, but no exit appears. But her sister, he real sister, appears. And Lizzie is so relieved she makes her way to Josie, hugging her tightly.

"No, but I won't say to figuring out this place together."

Josie stifles a comment about how Miss Hero was willing to let someone else make suggestions, because that would be too obvious. It would give her away too soon, and she wants to play with this for a little while longer.

She can fake it. Lizzie never pays attention anyway.

"Team work makes the dream work. Or ... something like that."

There's something...a little off, but not enough for Lizzie to question it too much. She assumes it's just this place -- it seems to be making everyone a little work.

So instead she tries to just force a smile as she pulls away some.

"And there's no better team than the two of us."

"Sure."

She buries the resentment and pastes on the smile, before turning back to the rest of the mirrors. She's been in here a while and has yet to find a way out but maybe she just needed to find the right person.

Is there a point to this maze? It doesn't feel like it, but who knows. This is Hell after all.

"Which way do you think we should have first?"

"No idea. I feel like I've been walking around in circles for hours."

Maybe she has. It's been hard to tell. She keeps getting distracted by the images in the mirrors. The visions that don't make sense. That seem so real, but she doesn't remember at all.

She's not sure what they mean.

"This is the part where it probably would have been good to have string or bread crumbs or whatever they usually use in fairy tales."

She tips her head to the side, before glancing back to her sister. "Maybe there's a spell we could use?"

"Maybe we could tweak a location style? Instead of focussing on finding a person, we do it to find the exit?

Not that they have a map, which would be even more useful for such a spell, but still, maybe if they created a rope or something it could work.

"Maybe a location spell with a ... divining spell? Follow the light to the end of the maze?"

There has to be a spell for that if they get creative. And they are very capable witches. Between the two of them, they can likely figure out the best course of action.

"That could work, assuming hell doesn't interfere with the spells, but we can try."

And honestly, Lizzie feels like as long as the two work together, there's nothing they can do.

"Okay. Then let's try."

She holds one hand out to her sister, then the other towards the mirrors. They're not going to do this without any magic after all, and she starts to siphon as soon as her hand hits the glass.

Lizzie takes Josie's hand and places her other hand on the mirror, beginning to siphon, but as they do, images begin to scatter across the mirror, this time from a future where Alaric is telling Lizzie about how she lost it and killed Josie to win the merge.

The mirrors have been messing with her since she entered here, making her feel crazy -- but this is the cruelest joke, so far.

She shouldn't have been watching. She should have been focusing on the magic, that's what the softer, weepier version of Josie would do. Instead, she finds herself staring at the mirrors, watching the scene play out in front of her, and immediately the mask falls away.

She's not faking it. Not anymore.

"Of course. Of course she lets you win."

"First of all, why are you talking in third person second of all -- come on Josie, everyone knows you're going to win this is just --"

She doesn't know what it is. It feels real. But it can't be right? She'd remember something like this. This is just another one of Hell's games.

"No, she won't. Because weak, people-pleasing, pushover Josie will just let you win. Because standing up for herself would be too hard, well guess what?" She takes another step forward, advancing on her sister. "And if you had a thought about your dynamic beyond pitying yourself for five minutes, you'd realize that too."

"She's not weak, and stop talking about yourself in the third person, it's weird and totally overdone." She's not going to sit here and just let Josie...trash talk herself. And while maybe their dynamic was still uneven in some regards Lizzie has worked hard to try to pay better attention.

"It may as well be another person! Shoving the parts of herself that she doesn't want to deal with deep down, while rolling over every time you take control. It's all an act, it's a character she likes to play because she doesn't want to rock the boat."

She takes a step forward, a challenge in her eyes that Lizzie's not seen before. "You're a steamroller that has her afraid of her own power, but I won't be such an easy pushover."

"I'm not a steamroller!" Her voice is snappish, and defensive. "At least....I've been trying not to be. I know I haven't always done right by Josie in the past but I've been trying. I spent all summer getting help because I wanted things to be better between us. I would never do anything to hurt her."

Not intentionally, anyway

"Well, looks like you do. And you know what, I'm so sick and tired of propping you up. So I'm gonna go. You wanna find a way out of here, do it on your own."

And with that, she's going to turn and walk away, before she does something rash. Hurting Lizzie now wouldn't serve the endgame. But she also knows she can't be here so she walks away, intending to find her way out on her own.

"That's just he mirror messing with us! It's been showing me weird stuff all day."

Lizzie doesn't realize that it's alternate realities yet, but she will after talking to Billy, right now she thinks it's just hell showing her her biggest fears.

Either way she's going to try to follow Josie, she doesn't want to get stuck in here.

Is it the mirror messing with them? Or is this something they don't already know yet? But that doesn't really matter. Josie just charges into the darkness, determined to find her way out, one way or another.

When she does get out, she will feel really, really guilty. But that's a problem for future Josie to figure out.

IC Inbox | Penance

may tdm | i'm not lost, this fate was mine to choose

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/scene