#//it's a huge assumption (yes i did briefly forget the word xD) on flori's part because hey maybe lizzy is cool

[floripire]

‘ I was never defeated, only killed. ‘

vampire the masquerade: part 1 // @baby-royalty

"i take it this is the part where i ask doesn't being killed automatically imply defeat? even though we're both preternatural and therefore the aforementioned statement and everything it implies is a moot point?" floribeth pauses the episode of gen v on her phone, regrettably, right before jordan li and marie moreau actually kiss.

conversing with this particular vampire feels like a test that floribeth did not prepare for, which is something she hates because she's always prided herself on being intelligent and a good student.

conversing with this particular vampire feels like a high stakes game of chess, imbued with an extra element of surprise, because for the past ten minutes, floribeth has wondered why the dark haired vampire would even deign to speak to her in the first place.

you know, considering the whispers that follow lizzy around: petrova, salvatore, mikaelson. floribeth doesn't know what to make of it. of her. and, really, she doesn't have time to throw herself into figuring out yet another mystery when her sire is still out there.

a sire who, in turn, has been turned into a vampire by klaus mikaelson, whose life has been ruined by him. and klaus doesn't seem to care one bit beyond what derek machado's pack could have done for him, if their bodies hadn't rejected the transformation.

it doesn't matter now: the tennessee wolf pack is, and will remain forever, extinct.

though if floribeth was like klaus, she probably wouldn't care about this, either. derek machado would be nothing but another name. a human who was at the wrong place in the wrong time, or, worse, someone who deserved this lot in life. and floribeth would just be collateral damage. a footnote in the story. someone not even worth considering.

she's glad she's not like klaus. yet she also likes to think she contains multitudes: she can - and does - fiercely hate the man for what he's done to derek machado and paige billingsley and she can - and does - sympathize and empathize.

it must've been hard: being the world's first vampires, having to figure everything out on your own, watching the world change while you stay stagnant.

people, too, contain multitudes.

so too do the mikaelsons.

(so too do the petrovas.)

they're not just one thing, or another. they're not just evil, nor good. they just are. to some, the mikaelsons are friends, family, even lovers. to others, they're heinous villains, ruining all who come across them.

and yet.

floribeth is so tired of the mikaelsons sometimes. she's so tired of the self mythologizing, of the arrogance, of thinking the world is theirs because they were here first, of expecting people to fall at their feet, rarely - if ever, heh, more like never - taking responsibility for all the hurt they've caused.

(she's not expecting them to do anything of the sort because they're all deathly allergic to humility and very good at dodging the consequences of their actions but some recognition could go a long way. as well as therapy. but then again, half the preternatural world needs therapy at this point and floribeth is not about to share her therapist, emma tig, with anyone else except her fellow students.)

floribeth is so tired of white vampires sometimes.

because they get a pass that other preternatural creatures don't.

because they get to turn off their humanity switch and, afterwards, they'll get welcomed back with open arms just as fast. elena gilbert gets to turn off the switch until she turns it back on. and the same goes for caroline forbes - as much as floribeth loves and adores her.

damon salvatore gets carte blanche to hurt people and now there's someone who looks a lot like him running around town; someone whose voice floribeth recognizes from the radio.

hell, stefan salvatore gets to kill dorian williams' father and sister and that poor man ends up working in the very institution, named after, and celebrating the murderer of his family!

but oh, if bonnie bennett went off the rails, she wouldn't be forgiven. not as easily as others have been. if loren bennett ever decided to lean into her anger, people would call her dangerous for it.

(never mind the fact that the bennetts have been hurt so many times, have sacrificed so many things, and so many times, and never got so much as a sincere thank you for it; floribeth figured that if anyone deserves to go feral, it's them, but they don't because going feral like that is a white person's luxury.)

anyway, if rafael waithe leans into his lupine nature, he'd spend the rest of his days in the transition cells, being fed a steady supply of aconite.

if landon kirby ever decides to burn it all down, people would look for a way to put him down for good that very same day.

everyone looks at jed tien and brands him a bully and a villain, as if he wouldn't learn from his mistakes.

and if floribeth turned off her humanity, she wouldn't hear the end of it. if kaleb and mg did it, it'd be held against them for centuries.

as much as she wants to lead with empathy and kindness, the way her parents taught her, floribeth does know how the world works. knows that it's people - be they human or preternatural - will not look at her like they look at lizzy.

it makes her want to claw her eyes out; it makes her want to scream and then tear out her own vocal chords. it makes her want to scrape every single angry, ugly word she hides underneath her tongue out of her mouth with her fingernails before she can release them into the world.

they are both vampires but there will always be a discrepancy between them - between the way they're both treated by others, by the world at large.

so sue floribeth for being wary of the vampire pop sensation. this is going to be derek machado all over again, isn't it?